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TECHNICAL EDUCATION 



WHAT IT IS, 



AND WHAT AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
SHOULD TEACH. 



AJV ESSAY 

BASED ON AN EXAMINATION OF THE METHODS AND RE- 
SULTS OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN EUROPE, AS 
SHOWN BY OFFICIAL REPORTS. 

J 

By CHARLES B. STETSON. 



^. <o 







BOSTON: ji 
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, 

(late TICKNOK & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.) 
1874. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873. by 

JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Boston : 
Stereotyped and Printed by Rand, Avery, & Co. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

Introduction. — Competition no longer Local, but World-wide. — Manu- 
factures no longer Few and Rude. — Decay of Apprenticeship. — 
Labor, Rude, Dexterous, and Skilled. — Popular Education. — Nat- 
ural Sciences a Part of Popular Education. — Drawing a Part of 
Popular Education. — How Time is to be had for the New Studies. 
— Object of this Compilation. — The Manufactures of most Value . 1 



CHAPTER n. 

Value of Technical Instruction. — British Opinions expressed by Cham- 
bers of Commerce. — Letter to Lord Robert Montagu, M. P. — 
Foreign Competition in Hardware made in Birmingham. — Worsted 
Trade of Bradford. — Decline of Silk Manufacture in England. — 
French Testimony. — Views of Prof. Leoni Levi. — Replies to Lord 
Stanley. — Testimony of Mr. Samuelson. — Testimony of English 
Artisans 31 



CHAPTER rn. 

Importance of Varied Education. —Literary and Scientific Training. — 
Report of Sub-Committee of French Imperial Commission. — Man- 
ual Labor. — Mission for the Succor of Apprentices .... 114 



CHAPTER IV. 

Special Schools for the Instruction of Apprentices. — Municipal School 
at Besangon. — Apprentice Schools in Belgium.— Power-loom- 

Weaving. — School at Mulhouse 131 

iii 



IV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

PAOE. 

Instruction of Workmen. — Popular Lectures. — Museum of Industrial 
Products. — Reports of English Artisans. — Universal Primary- 
Education 143 

CIIAPTER YI. 

Drawing. — The French Imperial Commission. — Replies to Lord Stan- 
ley's Circular. — Testimony of English Artisans. — Testimony of 
J. Scott Russell. — Belgian Testimony. — Mistaken Study of the 
Human Figure. — Geometry the True Basis of all Elementary 
Drawing. — Degrees in Teaching. — French Report on Drawing . 176 

CHAPTER Vn. 

Conclusion. — The Work must hegin in the Primary Schools. — Cram- 
ming. — Variety and Alternation of Studies. — Room for Additional 
Studies. — MentalDiscipUne. — Thorough Instruction and Exhaust- 
ive Instruction. — Text-Books in Natural Science. — Course of 
Drawing for Common Schools. — Special Instruction . . . 2ol 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



CHAPTER I. 



LN-TRODUCTIOX. 



The education required by a people is not a fixed 
quantity. That wliicli is adequate for one generation 
or for one locality is not, necessarily, adequate for 
another generation or for another locality. It may be 
said, in general, that the education of a people should 
always conform to their necessities; that, as the con- 
ditions of life change, the education of a people 
should undergo a corresponding change : it may be 
one of degree or of character, or it may be a change 
involving both. The present is a time when those who 
have the shaping of popular education in America 
should consider anew the practical application of this 
simple truth. 



2 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

For the American laborer, whether in the work-shop, 
in the counting-house, or on tlie farm, the conditions of 
life have, within the last fifty years, undergone a radical 
change, and of such a nature, that the laborer must now 
receive a vastly better education than he required one 
or two generations ago : otherwise he cannot advance 
himself as he should, nor even maintain his old position. 
This will be evident from a simple glance at three or 
four things which strikingly distinguish his present 
situation from his past. 

Competition xo loxger Local, but World- 
wide. — First, the railroad, steamship, and telegraph 
have changed, in a marked degree, the condition of the 
American laborer. Before they came, the competition 
he had to meet was almost wholly local. If lie did his 
work as well and as cheaply as those who went to the 
same church, or sat on the same jury, with himself, there 
was for him no need of further concern. He, and these 
neighbors of his, fixed the price of their products, since 
they sold in a market from which all but local competi- 
tion was virtually excluded. There is nothing of this 
now. Telegraphy and steam have made, as it were, one 
neighborhood of the whole world ; and the competition 
the American laborer must now meet, even at his own 
door, is no longer local : it comes from the ends of the 
earth. In a market admitting the competition of the 



INTRODUCTIOK. 6 

world, those who go to the same church, or sit on 
the same jury, cannot longer determine the price of 
their products. The world, of which they are but a 
part, settles that. 

Has an Ohio farmer a fleece of wool to sell ? 
He meets in the market the wool-grower of Aus- 
tralia. Has a Minnesota farmer a bushel of wheat to 
dispose of? The return for it depends, more or less, on 
the crop in California, or along the shores of the Black 
Sea. Is the seller a cotton-manufacturer of Lowell ? 
He must compete with the looms of Lancashire. A 
Maine manufacturer of axes ? He must face the axe- 
maker of Birmingham, whom he has, by the way, 
driven from the American market, while he success- 
fully competes witli him in the market of the world. 
Is it a Philadelphia builder of locomotives ? He feels 
the influence of Creuzot, though he may never have 
actually met a French locomotive on this side of the 
Atlantic. Is it an American ship-builder ? He knows, 
to his sorrow, that there are other buiklers on the Clyde. 
Indeed, there is scarcely one product of American indus- 
try, whose market-price is not now determined, in large 
degree, by the competition of the whole world; and this 
as the result, mainly, of steam-carriage and telegraphic 
communication. The more efficient these new instru- 
mentalities become, the sharper will be the world's com- 
petition, reaching even the most secluded hamlet. 



4 TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

The destiny of tlie laborer is, perhaps, more influenced 
by steam as a carrier than by steam as a producer ; for 
steam, especially when aided by telegraphic communica- 
tion, is a great leveller in the world of industry. ISTo 
levelling produces just the same pleasing effect for all. 
Take Enojland as an illustration. Havingr established 
her manufactures when her insular position and sail- 
carriage gave her comparatively easy access to the Euro- 
pean and other markets, slie now finds herself every- 
where confronted by products which the railway has 
brought from the manufacturing centres of interior 
Europe. While she glories in the railway achievements 
of her Stephenson, those very achievements have greatly 
diminished the vantage whicli was previously hers in 
tlie market of the world. But what of vantage she has 
lost through steam and telegraphy, she is now strug- 
gling to recover through a better education of her pro- 
ducing classes. By the same levelling process the 
American laborer is affected. Unless he does his best, 
he is liable to be driven from the market, even of his 
own town, by a producer who lives hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, of miles away. 

Here, then, is one particular in which the life of 
the American laborer has undergone a decided change ; 
for him competition is no longer local, but world- 
wide. 



IKTEODCrCTION. 5 

Laxd oxce New a^d Fertile, now Old and Im- 
poverished. — CoDsider, in the next place, tlie land. 
When it was new, bone and muscle, vigorously exercised, 
were enough to insure an abundant harvest. Whatever 
was planted grew without stint; nor were there a thou- 
sand pests to destroy the fruits of the earth. The Ameri- 
can farmer, then, had little occasion for chemistry, 
geology, botany, entomology, engineering, to secure im- 
mediate and satisfactory results. As the remote result, 
however, of the stupid agriculture of the past, tlie pres- 
ent generation inherits vast tracts of impoverished, 
unproductive soil. It may be found everywhere, from 
the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi, from the Lakes 
to the Gulf. But little of the land which has been cul- 
tivated for two generations, now yields as well as it did 
forty years ago. Much of it, indeed, is returning to a 
state of nature. 

The work of exhaustion still goes on. What is to 

check it ? for it must be checked. What is to restore 

the land already impoverished? for it must be restored. 

No American farmer should consent to go into the 

market with wheat, corn, butter, cheese, mutton, beef, 

cotton, which have cost him more than the same things 

have cost his competitors. But he must do this, unless 

he puts into his work something more than bone and 

muscle, something more than the equally stupid energy 
1* 



6 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

of reapers and steam-ploughs. There must be Libor, 
indeed, but no wasted labor. That there may be no 
waste, the labor must always harmonize with the invisi- 
ble forces of Nature, — those sleepless, ever-active giants 
with whom it is easy to work, against whom it is im- 
possible for the farmer to achieve any thing. It is edu- 
cated mind, working througli bone and muscle and 
machinery, which is to restore the impoverished lands, 
and keep them at their highest point of profitable 
production, whatever that may be. In England that 
point is, for wheat, about twenty-seven bushels to the 
acre. 

Here, then, is a second particular — diminished pro- 
ductiveness of much of the soil — in which a decided 
change has come over the life of many American 
laborers. 

Manufactures no longer Few and Rude. — In 
the third place, the demands upon the American artisan 
have increased wonderfully. Fifty years ago it was a 
very limited variety of products required at his hands : 
to-day the variety is almost infinite, ranging from a 
tenpenny nail to an ocean steamship ; from a pair of 
spectacles to a telescope for exploring the most distant 
nebulae. But the change is not indicated alone by a 
wonderful increase in the variety of the manufactures. 
E-aw material and bone and muscle constitute a much 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

smaller part of tlieir value ; while skill and taste count 
for vastly more than they did when the shoemaker 
boarded around as well as the schoolmaster, and made 
the shoes and boots for the neighborhood. The house, 
and the furniture put into it, must have more of ele- 
gance and comfort. The fabrics of the loom must be 
more beautiful in design, and must show a higher finish, 
than in the days of homespun. More graceful forms 
must issue from the founderies, glass-works, potteries, 
and quarries. The ship must have a better model ; 
and its workmanship must be finer in every part. In- 
deed, though the work of the American artisan is, as a 
whole, far behind that of some other portions of the 
world, yet there has been decided progress not only in 
the variety, but in the quality, of the products. 

Tlie progress in taste is largely attributable to the 
importation of foreign designs and designers. It may, 
however, be said generally, that the progress in Ameri- 
can manufactures is due to individual effort and to the 
subdivision of labor. There has certainly been no 
united, systematic effort to produce skilled workmen, 
except so far as the literary education of the public 
schools has indirectly contributed to such a result. 
This indirect contribution has not been a slight one, 
however. The subdivision of labor has enabled the 
workman to learn one part of his business more thor- 



8 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

ouglil}^ by remaining ignorant of all the other parts. 
He lias thus become a more dexterous workman in a 
limited field, but not, necessarily, a more skilful work- 
man; that is, he knows no more, necessarily, but less, 
perhaps, about the underlying principles of his busi- 
ness, than he did when he served an apprenticeship, and 
got some knowledge of all parts of his business. 

It is essential, then, that the American artisan re- 
ceive a much better technical education than present 
opportunities permit. It is essential for him, individu- 
ally, that he may hold his own with his fellows ; it is 
essential for the capitalist who employs him. that he 
may hold his own in the market of the world : and so 
it is essential for the common welfare. It is only the 
skilled labor of the multitude which will suffice. It is 
not enough that there be a few men highly qualified for 
their work ; it is not enough that there be intelligent 
direction ; it is not enough that the artist work under 
the same roof with the artisan : director, artist, and 
artisan should be, as far as possible, united in the same 
person. The less the artisan resembles a machine, the 
Letter and cheaper will be the products of his labor. 
All tliis will be placed beyond question by the unim- 
peachable evidence which will be given in subsequent 
pages. It will be seen that it is not the pauper labor, 
but the educated labor, of Europe, like that seen in 



INTBODUCTION. 9 

Creuzot, France; which America has good renson to 
fear. It will be seen that the cheapest of all labor is 
skilled labor, such as every State may secure by prop- 
erly educating her citizens. 

Here, then, is a third particular — multiplied and 
improved manufactures — in which a decided change 
has come over the life of a large class of American 
laborers. 

Decay OF Apprenticeship. — In the fourth place, 
apprenticeship has become almost wholly a thing of the 
past in America, and largely so in Europe. Yet there 
never was a more urgent demand for skilled workmen. 

This decay of apprenticeship is mainly due to the 
subdivision of labor which is now observed in the manu- 
facture of nearly all things, from pins to locomotives, 
because it is found to yield the best results. The use of 
machinery, the character of which is often such as to put 
an end to small enterprises, has promoted this subdivision 
by accumulating workmen in large groups. The begin- 
ner, confining himself to one department, is soon able to 
earn wages. This gratifies both himself and his par- 
ents ; and so he usually continues as he began. If, 
however, he wishes to become a master of his trade, and 
the employer agrees to instruct thoroughl}^, the latter is 
often tempted to keep his apprentice at work an undue 
time in the department he may have first well learned, 



10 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

and ill which liis lahor is, consequently, profitable. If 
the employer does not yield to this temptation, then 
who is there to give the apprentice proper instruction, 
seeing that so many workmen usually work by the piece, 
and cannot afford to spend any time in the instruction 
of others ? Nobody. Thus it happens that the begin- 
ner usually confines himself to one department, and is 
only anxious to receive wages as soon as possible. 

While this is to the present advantage of employer 
and employed, it is to the ultimate disadvantage of 
both ; for it is found that the workman who knows all 
the departments of his trade — knows the theory as well 
as the practice — will always do better work in any par- 
ticular department he may devote himself to. Again : 
the workman who can do but one thing, or rather one 
part of one thing, has little chance for promotion. He 
also finds himself helpless, when, at some unfortunate 
turn, his limited specialty fails him ; and there is more 
frequently an excess of workmen in a subdivision of any 
industry than an excess in the industry as a whole. 
Furthermore, the use of machinery, instead of dimin- 
ishing, rather increases, the artisan's need of thoroughly 
understanding his trade : unless he does, he cannot make 
the most of about the only chance (an increase of daily 
wages) which he now has for bettering his condition. 
Machinery having rendered individual enterprises so 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

expensive, tlie artisan has, in most cases, little chance of 
ever becoming his own master. Twenty-five years ago, 
when there were, for example, more daily papers in Bos- 
ton than now, and more shoe-manufacturing emploj^ers 
in New England, the industrious, frugal artisan working 
for wages had a reasonable hope that he might some 
day become an employer himself. That hope, as a stimu- 
lating, lifting power, must have been wonderfully produc- 
tive of good. But what, in any department of industry, 
is there now to lift the workman, to stimulate him to 
greater exertion ? Virtually, nothing but a prospective 
increase of his jier diem by doing more and better work, 
and by a merited promotion to some one of the many 
subordinate places of oversight and trust. He should, 
therefore, be provided with every means for improv- 
ing himself as a workman, and qualifying himself for 
promotion. Apprenticeship having essentially departed 
never to return in its ancient form, something else must 
take its place in America, as its place has already been 
largely taken in Europe by special schools, and give the 
American artisan that technical instruction which he 
must have, or perish. 

Here, then, is a fourth particular — the decay of 
apprenticeship — in which a decided change has come 
over the life of a large class of American laborers. 

Labor, Eude, Dexterous, Skilled. — It is thus 



12 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

seen, from the four particulars enumerated, that the 
times have decidedly changed for the American hahorer; 
that it is now of the utmost moment for him, whatever 
his work, to be skilled in the full sense of the word; 
and that he cannot become thus skilled without instruc- 
tion having such an object in view. But what is skilled 
labor and its value ? 

All manual labor maybe divided into rude, dexterous, 
and skilled labor. The first requires only, or mainly, 
the strength and patience of the stupid plodder. The 
second requires nice finish, and celerity of execution : 
but the work is all done by " rule of thumb ; " tliat is, in 
ignorance of principles. Subdivision of labor is sj)e- 
cially favorable to the production of dexterous workmen. 
The third requires both dexterity, and a knowledge of 
underlying principles. It is theory and practice united ; 
and it enables the workman to adapt himself to new 
conditions, and always to do the best thing in an emer- 
gencj'', — to improve old methods of work, or devise new 
ones. It may be said, in general, that, while the rude 
laborer earns one dollar, the dexterous laborer will earn 
two dollars, the skilled laborer three dollars; all working 
with their hands. In some varieties of labor, the differ- 
ence is much greater than this. 

For the rude laborer there is no hope of promotion ; 
for the merely dexterous laborer the prospect is limited : 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

but the skilled laborer, master of Iiis business in theory 
and practice, may count surely upon advancement. In 
dull times the skilled laborer is the last to be dis- 
charged ; yet he is the one who has savings to rely upon, 
— the one who can most readily adapt himself to a new 
occupation. 

There are but few kinds of labor, giving employment 
to comparatively few persons, which require only the 
rude strength of the steady plodder. Such stupid 
drudgery is the exception ; while labor requiring a 
greater or less degree of skill is the law. Frequently, 
indeed, labor is degraded to drudgery by reason of the 
stupidity with which it is performed. It maj^, therefore, 
be justly said, that almost every laborer should possess 
skill ; the more skill the better. Even in sawing wood, 
spading earth, tending a cotton-picker, tliere is a phi- 
losophy, a best way to proceed, which the intelligent, 
but not the stupid, laborer is sure to discover and to 
follow. 

Popular Education. — But there can be no such 
general diffusion of skill among laborers, without a 
popular education beginning in tlie primary school, and 
having that for one of its objects. Hence it is quite time 
American schools, instead of longer proceeding much as 
they did forty years ago, recognized the change in the 
social situation ; quite time they were so modified as, 



14 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

by direct intention, to educate the pupils more for skilled 
laborers, — farmers, artisans, merchants, manufacturers 
— than for the literary and professional occupations. 
When the best possible result of this kind has been 
secured, there will always be inevitable blockheads 
enough to do the inevitable drudgery of the world. 
They who oppose the systematic technical education of 
workmen, fearful that there will then be none left igno- 
rant enough for drudges, need not be alarmed. ISTor 
will a little early industrial culture be wasted, even on 
those wlio may become theologians or judges ; but rather 
it will do them good. 

But how should the popular education be modified? 
To-day it may be described as literary, — for the use of 
the head, and not for the use of the hands. Preserving 
its general character of fifty years ago, it does not bear 
directly upon the leading pursuits of the people. In 
the organization of many schools, and in tlie methods 
of instruction, there has been great change; but there 
has been verj^ little change in the things taught, though 
a large increase in the quautit3\ The text-books for 
reading, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, writ- 
ing, have grown in number and size ; and much more 
time is devoted to each of these studies. Indeed, in 
nearly all the public schools of the land they occupy 
five-sixths of the pupil's time. Could the school-year 



INTEODUCTION. 15 

be doubled in length, twice as much time as now would 
be given to the studies enumerated, if tlie educational 
spirit of the past, which is, in the main, the American 
educational spirit of the present, continued to control 
the schools, as it does now control them with few ex- 
ceptions. It would be more arithmetic, more geogra- 
phy, more grammar, more spelling, with no fundamental 
change of character. 

There is, however, a growing tendency to modify 
American popular education, and to bring it into har- 
mony with the age and the manifest demands of labor. 
What has already been well done in some parts of Eu- 
rope, and what the other parts (notably England, so 
thoroughly alarmed by the International Exhibitions, 
beginning with the one in London in 1852) are making 
such zealous efforts to do, will doubtless soon be regard- 
ed by all Americans as, in the main, the proper thing 
for the technical education of American labor. It is 
with this technical education that European govern- 
ments are just now specially concerning themselves ; 
and it is with the same thing that they who have the 
shaping of popular education in America must specially 
concern themselves during the next twenty-five years. 
In the present public-school system, with its strong 
literary features, they have a broad and excellent foun- 
dation upon which to build. No amount of instruction 



16 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

in science and art can fully compensate for lack of 
literary training, even when industrial results alone are 
sought. 

Natural Science a Part of Popular Educa- 
tion. — This harmony between education and the de- 
mands of the age requires that the natural sciences, 
— like chemistry, botany, physiology, — vmich bear di- 
rectly upon great industries, and otherwise tend to 
promote the common welfare, should form a distinguish- 
ing feature in popular education, — should be added to 
the present literary curriculum of the American pul)lic 
school. The whole people should not only be made 
acquainted with the leading principles and the more 
important practical applications of natural science, but 
they should be so instructed as to acquire, in good 
degree, the scientific habit of investigation and thouglit. 
The farmer has daily need of this knowledge in the per- 
formance of his routine labors ; also daily need of this 
habit of investigation and thought in order to meet 
emergencies, — to meet the cases not laid down in the 
books, nor inherited through tradition. Lacking this 
knowledge and this habit of mind, he wastes his energies 
in a blind contest with the invisible forces of nature, 
and draws the most absurd conclusions, or no conclu- 
sions at all, from surrounding phenomena. For him 
labor degenerates into drudgery j while profits diminish, 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

or disappear altogether. Then there are many artisans 
who have urgent need of siinihir knowledge, and of a 
similar habit of mind. By the same things the kitchen, 
toO; would be greatly profited ; cost of living would be 
reduced, yet people would fare better, and their years 
would be prolonged. 

While, as it will be claimed, it is not the business of 
the common school to make specialists, — farmers, car- 
penters, accountants, engineers, cooks, — it is the busi- 
ness of such a school to teach at least the elements of 
technical knowledge, and to teach these elements to 
all. Such instruction, because of the discipline it af- 
fords, — like in part, in part unlike, that afforded by 
other studies, — is of indirect value to every one. It is 
also of direct value to the great body of the people ; for 
it is the universal European experience, that laborers 
cannot be satisfactorily educated for their work, unless 
they have first received, in schools for children and 
youth, not only literary instruction, but also instruction 
in the elements of technical knowledge, scientific and 
artistic. With a broad foundation of elementary in- 
struction, and not otherwise, special instruction can be 
successfully added according to the requirements of each 
workman. Such is the universal experience of those 
European countries that have undertaken to educate 

workmen for their special pursuits. 
2* 



18 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

Drawing a Part of Popular Educatiox. — Tliis 
harmony between education and the demands of the 
age also requires that drawing should hold a conspicu- 
ous place in popular education. Both for the peculiar 
culture it imparts, and for its practical uses, it should 
be taught in every public school. As the result of 
extended and careful investigations, made from time to 
time, for the purpose of determining the character of 
the education requisite to produce skilled workmen and 
promote industrial welfare, European governments now 
lay greater emphasis upon drawing than upon any other 
study. Indeed, it holds so prominent a place in the 
education of the people of most European communities, 
that it may be said, roundly, to constitute a fourth part 
of all the education the artisan receives. And yet even 
in France, where the artisan has for some time been well 
educated in drawing, it is regarded of vital importance 
that the present instruction in drawing be increased, 
and made of still better quality. Indeed, the evidence 
places it beyond question, that, in Europe, the welfare of 
the individual artisan, of manufacturing establishments, 
of whole communities even, may be justly attributed to 
instruction in drawing. As drawing has no particular 
home, it may render to American industry services 
equally valuable. The whole people should not only be 
made acquainted with its leading principles and more 



INTEODUCTION. 19 

important industrial applications; they should be so 
instructed as to acquire, in good degree, artistic habits 
of mind and manipulation. 

Almost every thing that is well made now is made 
from a drawing. In the construction of buildings, 
ships, machinery, bridges, fortifications, nothing is done 
without drawings. It is not enough that there be 
draughtsmen to make the drawings : the workmen who 
are to construct the objects required should be able, 
without help, to interpret the drawings given for their 
guidance. This they cannot do without instruction that 
acquaints them with the principles on which the draw- 
ings are made, and so trains the imagination as to enable 
it to form from the given lines a vivid mental picture 
of the object required. The workman who lacks this 
knowledge and this ability, as it is probable that nine- 
teen-twentieths of American artisans now do, must 
work under the constant supervision of another, doing 
less and inferior work, and receiving inferior wages. 
But it is also essential that the workman himself be able 
to make at least a rude working-drawing, whenever, as 
frequently happens, an emergency requires it. 

Furthermore, it is not enough that the artisan be able 
to make an object, and to make it expedition sl}^ ; not 
enough that his workmanship be of the highest order. 
There are thousands of things whose commercial value 



20 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

depends mainly upon their beauty, for which the world 
is always so willing to pay. This beauty may be in tlie 
form of the objects themselves, or in the applied decora- 
tion, or in both. However strong a piece of carpeting 
may be made, however exquisite may be its finish, an 
ugly design will ruin its sale. It is the design, no less 
than the quality of the workmanship, that determines 
whether or not an object from the furniture factory, 
from the glassworks, or the pottery, shall sell for more 
than the cost of the raw material. It is the same with 
Nature's products. The beautiful horse is preferred 
to the one equally serviceable, but homely. Indeed, 
beauty has a commercial value almost unlimited. But 
wherever the beauty is found, — in the shape of the ob- 
ject or in the decoration, — it is mainly due to form; 
and so its principles and their applications are best 
learned by persistent practice in drawing. 

It is not enough, however, that there be special de- 
signers. In most departments of industry, the work- 
men who are to reproduce given designs in the form of 
commercial products cannot do this successfully, unless 
they have received such a training as to give them an 
artistic taste and the power of artistic manipulation. 
This training they must have, if they are simply to re- 
produce given designs ; but they also need it, that they 
may be able themselves to modify the given design (as 



INTEODTJCTION. 21 

it is often necessary to do), the better to adapt it to the 
object required, or to the material of which it is made. 
The evidence, indeed, leaves it in no doubt that the 
artisan should receive an artistic training (the more of 
it the better), of which drawing should constitute the. 
chief element. The best results have been secured, 
where the one who designed and the one who executed 
were the same person ; the next best results, where the 
one who executed had received an artistic training. It 
may be accepted as a general truth, the more of an 
artist, the better tlie artisan ; for the work will ever tell 
of the workman. Hence it is of the utmost importance 
that instruction in drawing should go far beyond exer- 
cises in mere copying ; that the principles of good de- 
sign should be thoroughly taught; and that the pupils, 
from an early age, should be systematically trained in 
the pleasant and intellectually stimulating production 
of original designs. 

How Time is to be had for the Kew Studies. — 
The two great features which should be ingrafted on 
popular education in the United States, if that educa- 
tion is to be brought into harmony with the times and 
the manifest requirements of labor, have now been 
designated. They are practical science and practical 
art. 

But how can these additions be made? Whence 



22 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

is the time to be had for the instruction of the boys and 
girls in the public schools, most of whom fail to accom- 
plish all that is now required of them ? Yet there is no 
study now in these schools which should be excluded. 
The evidence is incontrovertibly strong, that the best 
technical education alone is not sufficient to produce 
even the best practical results : there must also be lite- 
rar}^ culture, the more of it the better. Kever was there 
a broader and firmer foundation upon which to build a 
popular industrial education than is afforded by the 
X^ublic schools of the United States. This foundation 
must be preserved, and, if possible, made better still. 
But how can neAV studies be added, and new and old 
receive proper attention? 

"When the necessity of adding new studies is fully 
recognized, a way will be found. Doubtless it will be 
found, upon considering just how much of each study it 
is essential to teach, — that some, if not all, of the present 
studies can be greatly abridged without diminishing the 
quality of the mental discipline acquired, or the amount 
of really useful knowledge. Would the spelling-books, 
for example, be of less service, were the words they con- 
tain reduced to one-third of their present number, and 
confined to those in common use ? This reduction 
would save the pupils many days which they now de- 
vote to the task of spelling words they will never have 



INTRODUCTION^. 23 

occasion to spell when they are once out of school. 
Would the instruction in geography be of less value^ if 
it were limited to the general principles and to the more 
important facts ; which the pupils would be able to retain 
after they were once learned ? This would reduce by 
two-thirds those details which are now memorized only 
to be forgotten ; and the pupils would save months of 
time. And would it not be better to confine arithmeti- 
cal instruction to the science of numbers and its prac- 
tical applications ? Doubtless it will also be found that 
some of the schools, if not all, can be made much more 
efficient by change in their organization or methods of 
instruction. Why, for example, should the bright, 
healthy, industrious pupils in graded schools be required 
to go the same pace as the stupid and lazy ? Why, in- 
deed, may there not be such a flexible school organiza- 
tion as to afford each a chance to do his best, — to finish 
any study at the earliest moment ? Why not reduce 
the lessons in arithmetic, geography, grammar, to four a 
week, and even drop these studies an occasional term ? 
Thus would time be secured for new studies without in- 
creasing the daily lessons of the pupil. And doubtless 
it will be found that parents, when they realize the great 
value of instruction in practical science and practical art, 
will send their children to school longer than most of 
them do now. As for suitable teachers, they will be 



24 TECKSTCAL EDrCATION. 

had as tbev are wanted. But, after the present puhlic 
schools have done all it is proper for them to undertake, 
mnch additional technical instruction must be provided 
for American workmen in special schools, as is now the 
case in so many parts of the civilized world. These 
special schools, except the higher ones, must he adapted 
to the requirements of the different localities where they 
are established. In one place the school must be, in the 
main, commercial; in another place, agricultural; and, 
in a third place, it must be adapted to those engaged in 
building, in wood, leather, or textile manufactures, in 
quarrying, in locomotive or machine construction, or 
whatever else may be the chief pursuit. 

Object of this Compllatiox. — It is the object of 
these pages, mainly filled with extracts from govern- 
mental reports, to give a general idea of what has been 
done for the technical education of workmen in Europe, 
how it has been done, what the evident results are, and 
what it is there urged should be further attempted. As 
the testimony is foreign, it is of special value for Amer- 
icans, since it shows them the character of the competi- 
tion they must meet in the market of the world. It is 
hoped, therefore, that this, though slight, contribution 
in faror of a modified education for the American people 
will not be wholly without influence with those who 
have the special care and moulding of the public schools 



UTTRODTJCTION. 25 

of the country. It is hoped that it will strengthen and 
somewhat accelerate the general movement now begin- 
ning in behalf of popular industrial education. Much 
precious time has already been irretrievably lost ; and, 
for a generation to come, American laborers must feel 
the evil consequences. In a matter which depends upon 
the education of the whole people, there must always be 
patient waiting for results. Nothing can be achieved at 
a bound. 

While so little has been done for industrial education 
in America, so much has been done, and is now doing, 
in other countries, that it must be many years, even 
with the best possible effort, before American farmers, 
manufacturers, and artisans, as a body, can equal the 
skill of many of their foreign competitors. Because the 
fullest results cannot be immediately secured, that is no 
argument for further neglecting the industrial education 
of the people, but rather an argument for the speediest 
and most vigorous action in its favor. Though we 
stand still, other nations will not. But it is not 
simply a matter of foreign competition : there is the 
home competition of State with State, of city with city, 
of one establishment with another, and of one artisan 
or farmer with another. No tariff can protect any 
community against this home competition. 

Where manufactures are already established, they can 



26 TECKN^CAL EDUCATIOX. 

be permanently retained only by the technical education 
of the wortmen in local schools. Thoncrh these manu- 

o 

factnres have hitherto been successful in spite of un- 
skilled labor, it will be hazardous in the extreme to rely 
npon such labor hereafter, or npon skilled labor to be 
got by chance from abroad. Wliere it is the wish to 
establish new manufactures, there the manufactures, if 
they are to be made secure and profitable, must be 
established on the technical education of the workmen 
in local schools. That is the only foundation npon 
which it is safe to build the new, or to which it is safe 
to trust the old, unless the manufactures are rery rude 
indeed, and owe their ralue mainly to the raw material 
consumed. 

The jMAXTTFACTiniES of most Value. — But the 
manufactures for which a community should specially 
contend are those in which skilled labor counts for 
much, and raw material for very little. As such manu- 
factures require a good degree of intelligence for their 
snccessful prosecution, they yield the largest profits, 
and afford the best class of citizens. That is not all. 
The demand for the products of skilled, artistic labor, is 
not limited by the number of purchasers, but only by 
their taste, and by their desire and ability to purchase. 
The demand is, therefore, essentially unliaiited. Thus 
a shawl costing five hundred dollars because of its 



INTEODUCTION. 27 

beauty will alwaj^s be preferred to another equally 
warui and durable, but costing only ten dollars. On 
tlie other hand, the demand for simple, rude manufac- 
tures, — like ploughs, carts, shovels, hammers, jeans, 
plain cottons, which only require to be well fitted for 
use, and substantially made, — is limited by the number 
of purchasers, who take the least possible amount, and 
of the cheapest variety, that will serve their turn. It is 
much the same with these manufactures as it is with the 
staple products of agriculture, the demand for which is 
limited by the number of the consumers rather than by 
their ability to purchase ; since the rich man can con- 
sume no more bread than the poor man, while the latter 
must have as much as the former for his healthy, vigor- 
ous support. 

The labor-saving implements now employed in 
American agriculture, enabling one man and two 
horses to cultivate each year forty to sixty acres of 
land on a Western prairie, does not increase the pro- 
ducts of the earth beyond the fixed amount required 
by the population, but reduces the number of laborers 
engaged in agriculture. Whatever facilitates the cul- 
tivation of the soil inevitably tends to diminish the 
relative number of farm-laborers, and to increase the 
relative number of those engaged in other pursuits. It 
is to the use of labor-saving implements on the farm 



28 TECH>'ICAL EDUCATIOX. 

that 13 to he largely attril/iited the greater relative 
growth of American cities compared with the increase 
01 the agricultural popolation- In Europe, a similar 
relatiTe increase in the city popniation over that of the 
country is largely due to a more intelligent cnltiration 
of the soil, wherehy the same labor obtains mach larger 
retnms than it formerly did ; and so there is a demand 
for less farm laborers compared with the whole popula- 
tion- When a hi^ degree of skill is adtled to the 
labor-saving machinery now employeii in American 
agriculture, there will be seen a yet greater relative 
increase of the city and manufacturing over the agricul- 
tural population. 

This increasing multitude of artisans will not he 
able to &id profitable employmeni: as rude workmen. 
Tlrie is a rigid limit fixed to the demand for rude pro- 
ducts, as already indicated. They will be able to find 
profitable employment only as skilled, artistic workmen, 
— employment in the production of all those things 
which skill and taste know so well how to create for the 
embeUishmenr GJid delight of civilized life, and for which 
there c-an be no rigidly limited, but always an increas- 
ing demand- It is for such manufactures that commu- 
nities should specially contend, and, to contend success- 
fall y, must educate their people in practical science and 
in practical art. When a military result is re<^uired, the 



IXTEODUCTTON. 29 

whole people must be educated in the military art, as 
Prussia has demonstrated by putting the spiked helmet 
into all of her schools. When an industrial result is 
required, then the whole people must be educated in 
the industrial arts, as Switzerland has exemplified so 
well. The earliest day is the best day to begin this 
work of education. Those communities which first estab- 
lish their manufactures have a decided initial advan- 
tage over all new competitors, though not a sufficient 
advantage to justify them in neglecting any precaution 
against encroachment. Since, then, skilled labor is the 
only sure foundation for prosperous manufactures, and 
since the artisan class is increasing, and must, for the 
reasons given, continue to increase, in relative numbers 
and importance, much more rapidly than the whole 
population, the proper education of this class becomes, 
with each succeeding year, a matter of more vit^d con- 
sequence. 

The following pages will clearly show that the tech- 
nical education of workmen cannot be made in the 
highest degree efficient, unless it begins in the primary 
school ; and that instruction in art and science alone is 
not enough, but must be based on general literary cul- 
ture. The American system of common schools already 
gives every one the general culture, to which those fun- 
damental elements of technical education which belong 
3* 



30 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

alike to nearly all departments of labor can be easily 
added without making specialists of tlie pupils. After 
the common school must come the special schools, even 
now so numerous in Europe. The following pages will 
also clearly show that drawing and art must occupy 
the most conspicuous place in the technical education 
of workmen. They will also show that different Euro- 
pean governments have been, for a series of years, mak- 
ing earnest, systematic efforts — and perhaps nothing 
so engrosses their attention now — for the technical 
education of workmen ; beginning it in primary schools, 
and continuing it through evening schools, Sunday 
schools, apprentice schools, schools of arts and trades, 
popular lectures and museums, with its culmination in 
great technical universities. To-day it is with educated, 
skilled labor — ever the cheapest as it is the best labor 
— that Europe proposes to meet the world in friendly con- 
test for industrial supremacy. Let America take note 
that it is the educated, skilled labor of Europe, and not 
pauper labor, as so many believe, which she has good 
reason to fear, and against which she can defend her- 
self only by educating her workmen equally well. 



CHAPTER 11. 

VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION". 

The numerous extracts given in this chapter show 
clearly, among other things, that, 

1. The person who has general charge of any busi- 
ness should understand that business both theoretically 
and practically. His knowledge of principles should be 
such as to enable him to instruct any subordinate 
requiring instruction, to determine at once the compara- 
tive value of different processes of work, or to invent 
new ones when emergencies require it. In a word, he 
should be able to reach just conclusions at once by his 
knowledge of principles, and not slowly by "trial and 
error." He should be workman enough to know when 
work is well done, that he may not be cheated by those 
under him, and that he may be able to render justice 
unto all by duly discriminating between the skilled and 
the unskilled laborer. He should understand his busi- 
ness as a whole, and the relation of each part to the 

31 



32 TECnXICAL EDUCATION. 

wliole. Neither skilled workmen Dor tariffs can com- 
pensate for stupidity on the part of the superintendent. 
Onl}' the very few exceptional geniuses, like Stephenson, 
become thus qualified to take charge of enterprises, 
great or small, without special school instruction. 

2. The workman should not only be dexterous in 
manipulation ; he should certainly know so much of the 
theory of his business as will enable him readily to com- 
prehend all instructions, verbal or graphic, given for his 
guidance. The more extended and thorough his knowl- 
edge of principles, the better. Such a workman requires 
very little supervision : he executes with rapidity- ; he 
wastes the least possible ; he adapts himself readily to 
new methods ; he devises novel and better ways for 
doing even the simplest things ; he is the first to be 
promoted; he is the last to be discharged; he always 
commands the best wages, and yet his labor is the 
cheapest in the market. On the other hand, the work- 
man who works only by '"'rule of thumb," though he may 
be dexterous, lacks logic, lacks invention, lacks a Jap La- 
bility ; indeed, is only a better kind of machine. 

3. The workman should be better instructed because 
of the machinery used ; since it is the rude or dex- 
terous workman, rather than the really skilled work- 
man, who is supplanted by machinery. Skilled labor 
requires thinking ; but a machine never thinks, never 



VALUE OF TECHKICAL INSTRUCTION. 33 

judges, never discriminates. Objects wliicli have a 
simple and regular form, and require high finish, or 
not, may be made with advantage by machinery, if the 
objects are produced in large numbers. Most kinds of 
work which demand little besides strength for their 
execution can usually be best done by machinery too. 
Though the employment of machinery does, indeed, 
enable rude laborers to do many things now, which for- 
merly could be done only by dexterous workmen, yet, 
after making allowance for all the bearings of the ques- 
tion, it is clear that the use of machinery has decidedly 
increased the relative demand for skilled labor as com- 
pared with unskilled labor; and there is abundant 
room for an additional increase, if it is true, as declared 
by the most eminent authority, that the power now 
expended can be readily made to yield three or four 
times its present results, and ultimately ten or twenty 
times, when masters and workmen can be had with 
sufficient intelligence and skill for the direction and 
manipulation of the tools and machinery that would be 
invented. 

4. All those persons whose business it is to produce 
new combinations of matter — such as the farmer, 
miner, dyer, bleacher, founder, maker of machinery, 
and numerous others — should have a knowledge of 
chemistry. Without such knowledge, which is an 



34 TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

essential element of skilled labor in these departments 
of industr}', neither rude nor dexterous labor can pro- 
duce satisfactory results. 

5. The utmost eifort should be made to produce 
articles of beautiful design, whether in form, or in color, 
or both. The difference between good design and poor 
design is the difference between success and failure in 
the market of the world. When the beautj^ of the 
object depends, as it usuallj^ does, upon its own form, 
or upon the form of the applied decoration, the work- 
man should be one who has been thoroughly instructed 
in artistic drawing and designing. ISTot only should the 
originator of the design have been thus instructed, but 
also the reproducer of the design in wood, metal, earth, 
or other substance. 

6. For the most successful prosecution of any great 
enterprise in land or naval architecture, in the construc- 
tion of railroads, canals, machinery, there should not 
only be an abundance of thorough and expert draughts- 
men, but each workman should be draughtsman enough 
to make a drawing of any object he is required to con- 
struct. Of two competing establishments, the one hav- 
ing such workmen, the other not, the former would not 
only win, but would distance the latter every time. 

It will be seen that these six points are fully sus- 
tained by the testimony of the extracts. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 35 

BRITISH OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY CHAMBERS OF COM- 
MERCE. 

Tlie Eight Hon. Lord Eobert Montagu, M.P., Vice- 
President of the Committee of Council for Education, 
&c., submitted in 1867, to the Chambers of Commerce 
in Great Britain, the following questions : — 

1. What trades are now being injured by the want 
of a technical education ? 

2. How, and in what particulars, are they injured ? 

3. How do other countries, from their greater atten- 
tion to technical instruction, absorb our trade ? Give 
instances, and, if possible, statistics. 

4. What plan of technical education would remedy 
the evil ? 

The replies to these queries as to technical education 
were ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 
March 25, 1868. A summary of the replies will be 
found in the following : — 

Letter from the Chairman of the Association of Chambers of Com- 
merce of the United Kingdom to the Right Hon. Lord Robert 
Montagu, 31. P. 

My Lord, — The Association of Chambers of Commerce of the 
United Kingdom have submitted the questions suggested by your 
lordship to the respective chambers. It is thought more con- 
venient to give you a summary of the answers, rather than to 
trouble you with the separate reports, except those from Netting- 



36 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

liam, Kendal, the StafFordsliirc Potteries, and Birmingham ; in which 
the statements are more detailed, and are therefore forwarded with 
this statement in the same shape as received, 
/^ The Birmingham report states, that " every trade in Birming- 
ham and the district is being injured by the want of technical 
education, and those trades the most in which the cost of the 
articles produced consists most of labor, and least of the raw 
material." 

The Belfast Chamber report?, that they are not aware of 
any trade in Belfast and its neighborhood bein<^ injured by the 
want of technical education ; but they are convinced that improved 
education, both technical and general, would indefinitely increase 
the industrial efficiency of society. 

" The higher branches of industrial knowledge, that is to say, 
mathematics, engineering, and chemistry, both general and as 
applied to agriculture, are taught in the Belfast Queen's College, in 
a way that we believe to be most satisfactory. But there is no 
adequate provision for the instruction in these and similar branches 
of any class of society below that which sends pupils to the Queen's 
College." 

The Staffordshire Potteries Chamber replies as follows : — 

"It would be difficult to say what trades are now injured by tlie 
want of technical education. The question would, perhaps, have 
been better put, had it been asked 'What trades would be injured, 
if they could not have imported workmen, or the productions of 
workmen, who, from having received a better education than tlie 
workmen of this country, had thus fitted themselves to perform 
duties which could not be undertaken by our own people? ' If the 
question be so put, it is only necessary to point out the numerous 
cases in which foreign workmen are employed, and foreign designs 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL n?STEUCTION. 37 

carried out, in most, if not all, of the principal manufactories of 
this country, — work which might have been performed by English 
workmen, had they been sufficiently educated for the purpose ; the 
result of which is an increased expenditure to the manufacturers, 
and, consequently, a greater inability on their part to meet foreign 
competition, both at home and abroad, resulting in loss to the 
English workman and the country generally. In the Pottery 
district, several manufacturers employ foreign workmen as paintei's 
and designers ; and, in one manufactory, a sum of two thousand 
pounds a year is paid to foreign workmen." 

In reply to the second question, " How, and in what Particulars, 
are the Trades of this Country injured? " the general purport of 
the answers is, that among employers, foremen, and workmen, 
great deficiencies exist in those branches of knowledge which bear 
most intimately on the great departments of industry. For most 
trades, a knowledge of design, of theoretical and applied mechanics, 
and of abstract and applied chemistry, arc of the highest importance. 
The Sheffield Chamber thinks that the steel trade would be benefited, 
and strengthened against foreign competition, if the foremen were 
educated in chemistry and metallurgy. The ^Yakefield Chamber 
speaks of the " want of theoretical and applied knowledge on the 
part of the workmen in the various trades in which they are 
respectively employed, particularly of mechanical drawing as an 
art, practical geometry required by engineers, cabinet-makers, and 
mechanics generally, and of chemistry practically applied." 

With reference to art, the Nottingham Chamber, while acknowl- 
edging the advantages of the present schools of art, states, " that 
the expense of attending such schools is considered to be too great, 
and deters the poorer classes from availing themselves of these 
advantages. It is the opinion of this chamber, that our national 
4 



38 TECHKICAL EDUCATION. 

system of art-instruction lays too great stress upon high finish in 
the execution of the work, rather than upon a system of work 
which would give our art-workmen the facility of rapid and intel- 
ligent execution ; nor is it successful in training stndcnts sufficiently 
numerous and well educated to take the places now occupied by 
hundreds of French designers and modellers, and German mechan- 
ical draughtsmen. Greater facilities and more encouragement 
should be given to students of the artisan class; and the present 
system, however well adapted for teaching drawing, is not favorable 
to the production of designs with celerity and originality. It is 
deemed desii-able that prizes should be given for sketches and 
designs drawn within a limited time, and for works from memory/' 

The answer of the Birmingham Chamber is, that " a large 
proportion of the multitudinous trades carried on in this district 
especially suffer, because so many of our manufactured articles arc 
composed of a variety of metals and other materials, which dejwnd 
for their successful combination and treatment upon a knowledge 
of chemistry and other sciences, and the beauty of their form on a 
knowledge of art ; while our workmen have scarcely any knowledge 
of either, but are guided in their work by imitation of one another 
and tradition." 

Keferring to the trades of the Kendal district (textile manufac- 
tures, dyeing, machine-making, leather, and farming), the report of 
the Kendal Chamber says, " In these, the workmen, as a rule, 
are unable to go out of their accustomed groove, and, from want of 
a knowledge of the scientific principles of their trades, are con- 
tinually wasting or spoiling material through mistakes which would 
not occur if they had received a technical education. 

"The want of scientific knowledge, and especially of chemistry, 
is a great obstacle to progress in the manufactures of this district. 



YALIJE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 39 

The patterns produced by men who have been trained in designing 
and the principles of color are superior to those produced by the 
workmen who have not had these advantages. Many manufac- 
turers employing French artists, and others procure their designs 
from abroad. . The trade of pattern-collecting is a recognized one in 
Paris ; and the collector divides his new patterns among his numer- 
ous correspondents in England. 

" In dyeing, the foreign dyers, especially the French, produce 
brighter colors than the English ; and this is mainly in consequence 
of the knowledge of chemistry possessed by their workmen. The 
specimens of manufacttire from this locality exhibited last year in 
Paris excelled in every thing but color. 

" The same may be said of the leather trade, in which the best 
colored leather for fancy purposes is still imported from France; and 
several of the discoveries for the best treatment of fine leather have 
been made in France, in consequence of mere knowledge of chemi- 
cal processes. 

" In machine-making, the want of workmen who understand the 
law, as well as the practice, of mechanics, is severely felt ; and this 
applies to all trades in which machinery is used, especially in the 
introduction of new machinery. 

" In agriculture, a knowledge of chemistry and natural science 
would be exceedingly beneficial to the farmer ; and the need of it is 
becoming daily more and more apparent. Some of those who have 
attempted to carry out a little knowledge in the neighborhood have 
been greatly benefited ; and larger and more diffused knowledge would 
be of incalculable value in developing the productions of the soil." 

The Dewsbury Chamber states, that "ofttimes woollen fabrics 
are spoiled in the dyeing for want of a knowledge of chemistry. 
Progress in the improvement of the manufacture of textile fabrics 



40 TECHXICAL EDUCATION". 

is retarded by the want of a more intelligent understanding by the 
workmen of the various processes ; and the duties of workmen in 
the engineering and machine-making business are imperfectly dis- 
charged for want of a better knowledge of the principles of 
mechanics." 

In reference to the want of mechanical science, the means of 
instruction "are most limited. The Nottingham Eeport states, that 
" the machinery, both for the lace and hosiery manufactures of this 
district, is of an exceedingly ingenious and complex character ; but, 
for want of instruction in mechanical science, the inventive power of 
the workmen is misdirected, time is lost, many valuable inventions 
are never perfected, and, if the desired improvements are at last 
obtained, they are the result, not of scientific induction, but of 
numerous trials and failures, which a proper technical education 
would have rendered unnecessary." 

The report from the same chamber, referring to the processes of 
dyeing, states, that "a knowledge of chemistry is essentially 
necessary for the carrying-on successfully of these trades ; but such 
knowledge does not generally exist amongst either the masters or 
workmen. Should a master desire to give his son a thorough 
education in practical chemistry, he must send him to a distance, 
and incur great expense : whereas his competitors in these arts, both 
in France and Germany, can obtain the best possible education on 
the spot, and at a cost of as many shillings as it requires pounds in 
England. The apprentices and artisans of Chemnitz, which is the 
great competing town with Xottingham in the hosiery trade, obtain 
a technical education of the highest class gratis, when it can be 
shown that they are meritorious, and unable to pay the small fee of 
the institute. For the same class in Xottingham, there is no instruc- 
tion that will at all compare with it. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTIOX. 41 

" This chamber has no access to statistics which would show to 
what extent our manufactures may have been superseded by the 
manufactures of otlier countries ; but, in many of our articles, Ave 
find a growing competition both in our home and foreign markets, 
owing to the superiority of design and finish of certain classes 
of goods. In those countries from which we experience the 
strongest competition, the work-people have the advantage of 
excellent technical schools, where complete technical education can 
be obtained at very moderate cost, and in some cases free ; and 
in addition to this, in many parts of the Continent the children of 
the work-people have all previously received good primary instruc- 
tion. 

"It is shown to this chamber, by the most competent persons, 
that our workmen, generally, are utterly ignorant of the properties of 
materials they are daily using, and of the best method of using such 
materials, and that all attempts at scientific teaching for the working- 
classes will produce very limited results, as compared with other 
countries, until a system of primary education, of a more thorough 
and comprehensive character than that which exists at present, 
shall have been introduced." 

The South of Scotland Chamber (Hawick) states, that "the 
French are very superior dyers. The manufacturers of Verviers 
(Belgium) have absorbed a large portion of the woollen-yarn trade 
of Scotland, by producing a superior article at the price. One of 
the manufacturers vi-^ited Verviers lately, and was informed by one 
of the most intelligent manufacturers there, that young men who 
had been at the technical school at Mulheim had made the great- 
est progress in the business." 

The Batley Chamber believes, that " the shawl trade of Leeds 
has been absorbed by Continental manufacturers by reason of their 
4* 



42 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

tcclinical knowledge, especially as respects the laws of form and 
color." 

Even in processes not connected with textile manufactures, the 
necessity of improved education is insisted upon by Mr. Freeman 
(Fahnouth Chamber), who writes, — 

" My experience here in the managcraeut of an extensive busi- 
ness in the granite trade leads me to believe that technical education 
would be of great advantage to the working-classes and to the 
trade generally. Tliere has been but little improvement in the 
character of the tools they use; wbile at the same time there has 
been great improvement in the tools used in America, by which a 
finer finish is given to the work, and labor is much diminished. 
Without some instruction to make the young mechanic acquainted 
with the advantages, I see no prospect of inspiring him to the use 
of them, more especially as the Trades' Union bas great power here, 
and interferes to prevent any alterations in the process of manu- 
facture." 

The Newcastle Chamber writes, that although " the want of 
a technical education amongst the persons employed here has not 
been generally felt, yet such manufactories as those for engineering, 
glass, earthen-ware, chemicals, iron, and iron ship-building, and 
mines for coal, lead, iron, and minerals and clays, would benefit 
through technical education." 

' In reply to the third question, " How do other Countries, from 
their Greater Attention to Technical Education, absorb our Trade ? " 
the answers show that the superior education afforded on the Conti- 
nent, and which is conducted witb special I'eference to industrial 
pursuits, enables the manufacturers there to compete with us in 
departments of industry which hitherto we considered peculiarly our 
own. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 43 

The Macclesfield Report states, " that the silk trade is injured 
by a superior skill in dye and finish on the Continent, causing a very 
large increase in foreign competition, which is aided by unequal 
tariffs and cheap labor abroad," 

The Wakefield Chamber replies, " By possessing a thorough 
theoretical and practical knowledge of their several trades, the 
designers, dyers, and engineers in foreign countries, produce greater 
purity and beauty of design, clearer and brighter colors in the cloths 
and other fabrics they manufacture, finer patterns, and gTcater light- 
ness, with efficiency combined, in construction, and in a more ap- 
proved machinery." 

The Dewsbiiry Chamber is of opinion, "that hitherto the heavy 
woollen trade of this district has not been absorbed, to any great de- 
gree, by the woollen manufactories of other countries ; but, in lighter 
and more fancy fabrics (textile). Continental manufacturers supersede 
us by a greater attention to art-instruction, and the production of 
good colors in dyeing." 

The Kendal Chamber says, " As the trade of the district is 
principally confined to the United Kingdom, foreign competition is 
not so severely felt as in some other parts of the countiy ; but there 
is no reason why, with increased knowledge, several branches of 
trade that once largely manufactured for exportation should not 
again return to this neighborhood." 

The answer from the Birmingham Chamber is as follows : " In 
other countries the work-people are instructed in science and art : 
the effect of this is shown in the rapid improvement of their manu- 
factures, in beauty of form, excellence of finish, adaptation to the 
purpose for which they are intended, and cheapness ; and their excel- 
lences enable them now to be in the course of largely supplanting 
us in the markets of the world." 



44 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

With reference to the request for statistics, the answer is, that the 
Government has ample means for ascertaining the great develop- 
ment of trade on the Continent ; and to the Birmingham Report will 
be found appended a list of articles made in Birmingham and the 
hardware district, which are largely replaced in common markets of 
the world by the productions of other countries, — a list which might 
be considerably extended. 

With reference to the fourth question, viz., " What Plan of Techni- 
cal Education would remedy the Evil 1 " the answers substantially 
agree in the following propositions: 1st, the necessity of 

LARGELY INCREASED PRIMARY EDUCATION ; 2d, THE ESTABLISH- 
MENT OF SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE AND ART IN THE GREAT CEN- 
TRES OF INDUSTRY, AIDED BY GOVERNMENT. 

The Kendal Chamber thus states its views : " The advantage 
which it is sought to obtain by an improved system of technical 
education is twofold; 1st, It would not only supply the want of 
such scientific knowledge as bears directly upon the art practised by 
the workmen ; but, 2d, It would overcome that common contracted- 
riess of mind Avhich produces an inability to perceive the general 
purpose of a process apart from its accessories, that inaccuracy in 
detail which accompanies confusion of thought, and a want of 
precision in action and the use of terms. Thus it is the habit of 
mind as well as a deficiency of knowledge which renders it so 
difficult for the average workman to adapt himself to any improve- 
ment, either of process or machinery. This is also the great obsta- 
cle to specific scientific instruction. 

" It would seem, therefore, that the fii'st object in technical 
schools should be to train young men to habits of accurate thought, 
and give them that general enlargement of mind, without which 
accuracy becomes tyrannical. To this end, the elements of mathe- 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 45 

matics should be taught and developed, as far as practicable, in an 
early stage of education. 

" Then there is, perhaps, no single acquirement which more ex- 
pands the mind, ' by showing the possibility of every-day thought,' 
than gaining a fomiliarity with a foreign language. For this 
purpose, the language should be taught by an intelligent, well- 
educated Englishman, able to develop the structure of his own 
language, and introduce the elements of comparative grammar. 

" Along with this preliminary course of mathematics and lan- 
guage, there should be some instruction in the elements of science, 
with a view of explaining scientific method, rather than of imparting 
definite instruction. Then would follow the higher development 
and teaching of the above, with more detailed and full instruction 
in those special sciences on which our industries depend. 

"But the most prominent object should be, in the technical 
schools of a high class, thoroughly to instruct the pupils in science 
proper. 

" The question now arises. How this course of instruction is to 
be given to a large number of young men, without too much interfer- 
ing with the practical learning of their trades ? As some only can 
give their whole time to study, it is suggested, that, as in many 
businesses work is not so brisk from December to May as during 
the rest of the year, it would be possible for many apprentices, or 
young men learners, to study during five or six winter months with- 
out injury to business. Thus they would have six months of 
practical work alternately with six months at school. By this 
means they could apply their technical or scientific knowledge, from 
time to time, more efficiently than they would be able to do by any 
directly technical instruction given in a continuous course of school 
education. Besides, coming from the application of acquired kuowl- 



46 TECH>TCAL EDUCATIOX. 

edge back a^n to the fount, they perceire the object to be 
attained by farther investigation, and better appreciate what ther 
hare to leam by baring experienced already how nsefnlly knowledge 
can be applied. 

" It wonld be a great boon to the poorer students, who woald 
thns provide the expense of half a year's instruction by the labor 
of the other half, as has often been done by earnest students at the 
Scotch nniversities. 

" At first, high-class technical schools could only be establi>bed 
in large towns ; but by degrees, as the number of competent teachers 
increased, they should be extended, and schools should be erenmally 
establbhed for the preliminary courses in every town in the 
kingdom. 

" As other associations wiU deal with tlie necessiiy of an infinitely 
higher class of elementary education being requisite than what is at 
present taught, should Parliament establish a system, of national 
education, chambers of commerce may limit their observations to a 
government system applicable te purely technical instruction. 

*• la France, government aid is given by competitive exhibitions. 
Tarring in amount from a fourth of the cost of education to a full 
payment of the whole of the fees. A similar endowment of merit 
is attached to technical colleges, where the students are taught, 
boarded, and clothed. Such a plan enables the cleverest youths in 
the humbler classes to obtain the best instruction. By means of 
communal funds, schoolhonses have been erected, and masterships 
established. The Government has also supplied professors to 
departmental and local schools. 

"K a board of education be established in each county, or 
divi^on of a coimty, in England, the best school within its district 
shonld have connected with it a technical department. The mode 
of providing the funds is one for the l^islatnre to settle. 



VALUE OP TECKNTCAL IKSTRTJCTI0:N". 47 

"In districts and towns where the popuhition is engaged in trade, 
the Government might aid, iu terminable loans at a low rate, the 
erection of school-buildings ; attaching to such schools queen's med- 
als and exhibitions for successful students in science and art. 

" So stimulated, partly by school-fees and the payment by the 
employer of the fees of clever youths, together with endowments by 
liberal and prosperous men of business, technical and scientific 
schools may be expected to spring up if properly qualified teachers 
can be found." 

The following resolution was passed at a special meeting of the 
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 10, 1868 : — 

" That the council be instructed to request the Association of 
Chambers of Commerce to inform Lord Robert Montagu, M.P., 
that, in the opinion of this chamber, it is of the utmost importance 
that government schools of science should be established in the 
great centres of industry, for the purpose of giving systematic 
technical education both to the middle and working classes. 

" The chamber wish it to be understood, that, by the term 
'technical education,' they mean both artistic and scientific instruc- 
tion." 

The Nottingham Chamber is of opinion that the education 
should be "of a thorough and useful character, and in all cases 
taught with a view to its application to arts and manufactures. 
Which of the Continental schools does this most effectually, the 
Government, with the resources at its command, will ascertain 
without difficulty. But it is of the highest importance that such 
institutions should be established immediately, that they should be 
in no wise inferior to the best Continental schools, and that they 
should be equally cheap and accessible." 

The Batley Chamber recommends, that " a central establish- 



48 TECHNICAL EDUCATION-. 

ment should be organized and caiTied on in some town (say Leeds) 
for this district, and that other places in the district should be 
affiliated to it on certain conditions. Local classes might be held 
in the day and night schools, or in mechanics' institutes. We 
think part of the cost should be paid by Government, and other 
part by fees from pupils. The direction and supervision of the local 
classes might (we think) be left to local managers ; but we think 
the central school should be in the hands of some department of 
Government." 

The Hawick Chamber, after making a similar recommendation, 
adds, " To enable the working-classes to reap the full benefit of 
the technical schools, a thorough system of national education is 
required; but there should be no delay in establishing the schools, 
as there are already numbers of workmen sufficiently well educated 
to take advantage of them." 

The IMacclesfield Chamber recommends, " that the present system 
of primary education should be consolidated, and made compulsory, 
so as to insure such education being given to every child in the 
State. 

" That local efforts for secondary or technical education should 
be supplemented by government assistance by way of annual 
grants, loans," &c. 

The Sheffield Chamber recommends the establishment, in that 
district, of " schools of chemistry and metallurgy in connection 
with the school of art, but which, if they are to succeed, must not 
depend for their support on private contributions." 

The Wakefield Chamber thinks that the Government ought to 
establish, in all the great centres of industry in the United Kingdom, 
schools equal to the best technical schools in France, Switzerland, 
Prussia, and Saxony. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 49 

The Belfast Chamber, on the other hand, states, " We do not 
see our way as yet to recommend the introduction of any system of 
' trade-schools ' into Ireland. The subject of technical education is so 
new to the people of this country, that we cannot feel sure that such 
schools would be appreciated and supported. What we would 
suggest as most practicable and desirable is an extension of the 
course in the national schools, so as to bring instruction in elemen- 
tary geometry and algebra, mensuration, mechanical and free-hand 
drawing, and bookkeeping, which branches form the basis of all 
technical education within the reach of all children, in towns at 
least, who can give the necessary time." 

The Coventry Chamber has passed the following resolution 
unanimously : " That, in the opinion of this chamber, it is es- 
sentially necessary that schools for technical education should be 
established in the different manufacturing towns ; and that the 
special schools which would be most beneficial to this city and 
neighborhood comprise those for teaching elementary chemistry, 
texile manufactures, practical mechanics, and horology." 

The Dewsbury Chamber recommends "local schools for the 
instruction of artisans in the principles of their respective trades, — 
such schools to be partially supported by local rates, and supple- 
mented by government grants, — together with a central school, to 
which more advanced students might be sent to receive further 
education in science and art." 

The Staffordshire Potteries Chamber consider that " a plan of 
education which would remedy this evil would be to establish a 
system of education in this country, in art and science, which would 
render it unnecessary for manufacturers to employ foreign talent. 
This could only be done by a national system of primary and 
technical education throughout the country, supported, so far as is 
5 



60 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

necessary, from a fund to wliicli all should contribute; for, if the 
future national prosperity of the manufacturing and trading 
interests of this country is supposed to depend upon a more efficient 
system of technical education, the expense of supporting it ought to 
devolve upon the nation at large, and not, as has hitherto in a 
great measure been the case, on individuals and localities. Pri- 
mary education ought to be one of the first considerations, — be 
made compulsory, as far as possible, with scholarships attached to 
these schools, so a^ to enable scholars to obtain by diligence a free 
education in the higher branches. There can be little doubt that 
trades' unions have injuriously affected most of the trades of this 
country ; but a good system of education would, in all probability, 
have a very strong tendency to do away with some of the most 
objectionable rules at present existing in these unions." 

In addition to these evidences of the general feeling among 
chambers of commerce in all parts of the country in behalf of 
technical education, the Committee of the Associated Chambers 
(appointed specially to consider the question) have passed the 
following resolution : " That, whilst the details of a comprehen- 
sive plan of technical education must be the subject of minute 
examination, the Government be urged to direct its attention at 
once to the systematic training of professors of theoretical and 
applied science, and to give increased assistance, beyond that 
conferred by the late minute on science schools (21st December, 
1867), to all serious local efforts to establish and extend the teaching 
of science and art." 

Signed on behalf of the Association, 

Sampson S. Lloyd, Chairman. 
Association of Chambers of Commerce of the 

United Kingdom, 29 Parliament Street, S.W., Feb. 10, 1868. 



VALUE OF teoh:!Tigal instruction. ol 

Reference is made in tlie preceding letter to a list 
of articles famished by the Birmingham Chamber of 
Commerce. It is as follows : — 

List of some articles made in Dinningham and the hardware district, 
which are largely replaced in common markets of the world by the 
productions of other countries. This list might be immensely extended 
by further investigation, which the shortness of time did not permit. 

Articles, or class of aeticles. Countries. 

Carpenters' tools; as hammers, 

pliers, pincers, compasses, hand Germany, chiefly. 

and bench vices. 
Chains of light descriptions, where 

the cost is more in labor than in 

material; as halter- chains and 'Jf^i'^^^^y. 

cow-ties, and such like. 
Fry-pans of fine finish. * France. 

"Wood-handled spades and shovels, 

an article of very large consump- United States export them to all 



tion. 



our colonies. 



Hoes for cotton and other purposes, United States compete with us for 

an article of large consumption. ^'''^'' «^^'" ^^^^' ^°^ ^^ ^«^^ «^- 

tent for export. 

Axes for felling tree', &c., an article Uaited States supply our colonies 
of large consumption. and the world with best article. 

Carpenters' broad - axes, carpen- 
ters' and coopers' axes, coopers' 
tools (various sorts;, shoemakers' 
hammers and tools. 

Matchets for cutting sugar-canes, an 
important article. 



Germany and the United States. 



Believed to be now Germany. 



United States export to South 
JNai s, cu . America and our colonies. 

Nails, wrought. Belgium. 

French and Belgian largelv super- 
Nails, point de Paris (wire nails). ^^^^ En"-lish.' 



62 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



Articles, or class of articles. 

Horse-nails. 

Pumps, of various sorts. 



Agricultural implements,— ploughs, 
cotton-gins, cultivators, kibbling- 
machines, corn-crushers, churns, 
rice-huUers, mowing-machines, 
hay-rakes. 

Sewing-machines. 

Lamps for use with petroleum, now 
an article of very large consump- 
tion : lamps for the table. 

Tin - ware, — tinned spoons and 
cooks' ladles, various culinary 
articles of fine manufacture and 
finish. 

Locks, — door-locks, chest - locks, 
dmwer-locks, cupboard-locks, in 
great variety. 

Door-latches, in great variety. 

Curry-combs. 

Traps, — rat, heaver, and fox. 

Hinges, in wrought iron, for doors, 
grates, &c., in great variety, 
gimlets, and angers (twisted). 

Brass foundry (cast), as hinges, 
brass hooks, and casters (great 
variety), door - buttons, sash- 
fasteners, and a great variety of 
other articles. 

Brass foundry (stamped), as cur- 
tain pins and bands, cornices, 
gilt beading, and a great variety 
of other brass foundry. 



Countries. 
Beautifully made by machinery in 

the United States. 
Largely exported by United States. 
[Note. — An American pump 

found water for the Abyssinian 

expedition.] 

Many articles similar to these are 
exported by United States to 

common markets. 

L^nited States. 

The United-States petroleum lamps 
supplant the English in India and 
China; French even imported to 

Eusrland. 



France. 



United State5,France,and Gei-many. 

United States export to Canada. 
United States and France. 
United States export to Canada. 

United States -export to Canada, 
and probably elsewhere. 

These articles, in great variety, are 
now extensively exported from 
Germanv and France. 



These articles, in great variety, are 
now extensively exported from 
Germany and France. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 



53 



Articles, or class of articles 

Needles. An article of large con- 
sumption. 

Fish-hooks. 

Guns. A great variety of sport- 
ing guns, articles of large con- 
sumption, formerly entirely from 
Birmingham. 

Breech-loading muskets, revolver 
pistols. 

Watches. 

Clocks. 



Iron. 

Glass for windows, an article of 

large consumption, spectacle and 

all other glasses. 
Table glass. 
Swords. 

Jewelry, — gold and gilt, fancy 
steel ; these in very great variety. 

Small steel trinkets, as bag and 
purse clasps, steel buttons and 
chains, key-rings, and other fast- 
enings, and many others in great 
variety. 

Leather bags, with clasps, purses, 
&c., courier bags, &c. 

Buttons, mother-o'-pearl. 

Buttons, horn. 

Buttons, porcelain (formerly 

Minton's of Stoke). 
Steel buttons (formerly Boltou and 

Watts). 



Countries. 
Mostly from Germany (Rhenish Prus- 
sia); even imported to England. 
Believed Germany. 

Now exported largely from Liege, 
Belgium, and St. Etienne, France. 



United States. 

Switzerland and France, even im- 
ported into England. 

United States and France. 

[Note. — Watches made in United 
States interchangeable by ma- 
chinery.] 

Belgium. 

Belgium supplants ours in our own 

colonies. 

Believed to be Belgium and France. 

Prussia and Belgium. 

France and Germany. These arti- 
cles are even imported into Eng- 
land. 

France and Germany; many of 
these even imported into Eng- 
land. 

Austria, France, and Prussia. We 
believe about all these articles 
sold in England are imported. 

Vienna, imported to England. 

France, imported to England. 

France entirely superseded English, 
and imported to England largely. 

France. 



54 



TECH^*ICAL EDUCATION, 



Articles, ok class of articles. 
Florentine or lasting coat-battoos. 
Sreel p)ens, penholders. 
Brai-5 scale-s and weights. 
Cntleiy, in great variety, —sci=50r5, 

light edge tools, such as chisels, 

&c. 
Pins for piano-strings, and other 

small fittings for pianos. 
Silver wire for binding the bass 

strings of pianos, &c. 
Iron gas-tubing. 

Elastic bells, with metal fastenings- 
Brass chandeliers and gas-fittings. 
Harness buckles and furniture. 
German silver, — spjoons, forks, <&:c. 
Locks. — best trunk - locks, best 

door and cabinet locks. 
Taibreila furniture. 
Eom combs. 

Pearl and tortoise-shell articles. 
Iron wire. 

Iron and brass hooks and eyes. 
Bronzed articles. 
Hollow-wares, enamelled. 
Optical instruments, 
ilathematical instruments. 
Japanned wares. 
Bits and stirrups. 
Coach-springs and axle-nrees. 
Electro-p'ated wares, customers 

preferring French goods. 
Gas-fittings. 
Weighing-machines. 
Plumbers' brass foimdry. 
Table glass ware. 
Doors, locks. 
Machines for domestic purposes, as 

sausage-machines, coffee-mills, 

and washing-machines. 



COUXTEIES. 

Germany. 

France. 

France. 

Germany. 

France, 
France. 

Germany. 

Germany. 

Prussia and France. 

Prussia and France. 

France, Austria, and Prussia. 

Prussia and France. 

France and Prussia 
Prussia. 

France and Austria, 
Prussia and Belgium. 
Prussia and France. 
Prussia and France, 
Prussia and France. 
France, Austria, and Bavaria. 
France, Austria, and Bavaria. 
Germany and France, 
Belgium and France. 
France. 

France 

United States. 
United States. 
United States. 
United States. 
United States. 

United States, 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION". 55 



Articles, or Class of articles. Countries. 

Nuts and bolts. United States. 

Penknives and scissors. United States. 

Stamped brass- ware (certain United States. 

kinds). 
American "notions," as buckets, 

clothes-pegs, washing-machines, United States. 

agricultural machines. 



THE WORSTED TRADE OF BRADFORD. 

The following letter from Mr. Jacob Behrens to Lord 
Kobert Montagu, Vice-President of the Committee of 
Council on Education, England, gives an interesting 
account of the worsted trade of Bradford. The great 
success of the past is largely due to a limited amount 
of technical instruction, which must be hereafter in- 
creased, or Bradford will lose her pre-eminence. 



Bradford, Jan. 24, 1868. 

My Lord, — By a circular which the Secretary of the Associa- 
tion of Chambers of Commerce has addressed to the various cham- 
bers, it was intimated that you desire to receive answers to the fol- 
lowing four questions : — 

1st, What trades are now injured by the want of technical edu- 
cation 1 

2d, How, and in what particular, are they injured 1 

3d, How do other countries, from their greater attention to 
technical education, absorb our trades 1 Give instances, and, if pos- 
sible, statistics. 

4tli, What plan of technical education would remedy the evil 1 



56 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

As a member of the Committee on Technical Education which 
was appointed by the Associated Chambers in November last, I had 
to consider these four important questions ; but, having long taken 
an active interest in all matters relating to education, I venture to 
trouble your lordship with my own personal views, without in any 
way prejudging the answer which the Committee will, no doubt, be 
prepared to return. 

In discussing these questions from an essentially local point of 
view, I shall be able to enter into details which cannot be included 
in an answer from a body representing all the trades and industries 
in the United Kingdom. 

I also suppose, that, in addressing all the chambers of commerce, 
it was desired to elicit information with reference to the local want 
of technical education at the principal seats of trade, which, when 
collected, may enable the Council for Education to obtain a general 
view of the wants of the whole country. 

Before answering the four questions, I miist beg permission to 
suggest that a great service would be rendered to the public by the 
statement of the exact meaning which the council attach to the 
words " technical education." 

In the absence of any such precise definition, almost every dis- 
cussion upon this subject (and hardly a day passes without it being 
referred to in public) degenerates into a discussion on education in 
general. 

Your lordship will perceive that I haA^e used the term in a wider 
sense than as the merely practical and theoretical teaching of 
mechanical and chemical science. 

In answer to the first two questions, I may state that the princi- 
pal industry of this town and district is the manufactui-e of worsted 
goods, and that perhaps in no other trade has the absence of scien- 
tific instruction been less injurious to a more rapid development. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 57 

Nor can we complain of that trade being materially injured by 
the want of technical education ; for the worsted trade of this neigh- 
borhood is yet the largest in the world, and has been estimated to 
amount to thirty-three million six hundred thousand pounds in 1864. 

Notwithstanding this satisfactory condition of our trade, signs 
are not wanting, and they are perfectly palpable to every one en- 
gaged in the export trade, that other countries are endeavoring 
keenly to dispute our pre-eminence. 

If we have attained our present position in spite of a deficient 
state of theoretical instruction (and I believe in no other great seat 
of industry have there been fewer schools of science than in this 
part of Yorkshire), the practical education as given in our factories 
must have been extremely good. 

We must, however, remember, that, until lately, we had great and 
exceptional facilities for the worsted trade ; which, by degrees, became 
concentrated in the immediate neighborhood of Bradford and Halifax. 

The population of this district has for centuries been trained in the 
combing, spinning, weaving, and dyeing of the long wool grown in 
this and some neighboring counties, and nowhere out of England. 

Machine-combing, the power-loom, and the invention in dyeing, 
hereinafter referred to, gave an immense impetus to our trade ; and 
thus Bradford, which in 1831 had only 43,527 inhabitants, num- 
bered 106,218 in 1861 ; and 130,000 is a moderate computation for 
the present. 

Our being first in the field gave us many advantages, and we 
have thus not felt the pressure of foreign competition so soon as 
some other industries ; but, notwithstanding the superiority which 
we still claim, we are conscious that we cannot afford to go on in 
the old way much longer. 

We not only export the machinery which enables our competi- 



58 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

tors abroad to comb, spin, and weave in tbe same manner that we 
do ; but our superior workmen accompany these machines to teach 
foreigners how to use them. 

Our operative dyers, although, as a rule, ignorant of the first prin- 
ciples of chemistry, have invented a very ingenious process by which 
vegetable and animal fibres can be dyed together, and have become 
so skilful in this branch of their trade, that our black and color dyers 
find employment at high wages all over the continent of Europe. 

The machines we export are, in many cases, worked by persons 
possessing a superior education, and, consequently, a more developed 
intellect than our ordinary mill-hands ; and, above all, the owners 
and managers of many foreign factories apply the results of iheir 
scientific training to our machines, and improve them to a degree 
which already compels us to acknowledge a marked superiority in 
some of their productions. 

Foreign dyers, possessing a thorough knowledge of chemistiy, 
have brought the finish of worsted goods to a perfection which we 
do not equal ; and foreign pattern-designers, who appear to possess 
a more cultivated taste than ours, show by their productions that 
they know how to apply it for the benefit of tlieir employers. 

Special instances of superior foreign workmanship are not un- 
common, but each may be the result of various causes ; and it is 
perhaps impossible in any one case to ascribe it to the superior tech- 
nical education of our competitors alone. 

But, whatever may be the cause, competition on the part of for- 
eign countries has become a serious fact, which deserves our most 
earnest consideration. 

The mills at Rheiras produce, from Australian wools, merinos, 
the perfection of which we have never been able to approach. 

The worsted mills at Notts, in Belgium, employ the same kind of 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 69 

weft and warp as we do, but weave fancy goods which are preferred 
to ours in neuti'al markets, such as Switzerland and others. 

Germany, and principally Saxony, import annually above five 
million pounds' worth of our worsted yarns ; of which a great part 
is re-exported to the United States, manufactured into fancy goods. 

Thousands of pieces of Orleans (cotton and worsted woven to- 
gether) are every year sent to France to be dyed and finished there, 
which would not be done if the French had not improved upon the 
original invention of our operative dyers. 

It is perfectly true that in some, even in most instances, the 
superiority of foreign produce may consist merely in a more careful 
attention to what we are here too much in the habit of considering 
small matters. Sometimes it is the finish, or a closer study of each 
country's peculiar taste or sjDCcial requirements ; but, in the aggre- 
gate, the results are important enough to obtain in many cases the 
preference in neutral markets for the goods which have had the bene- 
fit of such attention or such study. 

It may therefore be reasonably assumed that the owners of these 
establishments, having derived their practical instruction from us, 
were frequently able to improve upon our practice by their having had 
the further benefit of a superior system of primary and secondary ed- 
ucation, and by taking advantage of the many means that are offered 
to them for the acquirement of technical and scientific knowledge. 

The ready access to museums and art galleries, with which many 
of them are privileged, affords facilities for educating and cultivat- 
ing their taste, which must also be a great advantage to them. 

It is perfectly clear, that we shall have to adopt similar means of 
improvement if we wish to maintain and improve our position ; but, 
unfortunately, we do not at present possess the appliances for educa- 
tion which alone can make commerce and industry a liberal profession. 



60 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

Our local teaching of science is so imperfect, that our master- 
dyers, who require to introduce a more scientific clement into their 
establishments, cannot find amongst their men, and amongst the 
youths in the neighborhood, the acquaintance with the principles of 
chemistry and physical science which is necessary for the delicate 
adjustment of the chemical agents they have to deal with. 

Not confining my definition of technical education to mechanics 
and chemistry, but including in it the training for commercial pur- 
suits, I may state that the ignorance of modern languages, of the 
geography and the laws and customs of foreign nations, which is 
yet prevalent amongst the rising generation, even of the affluent 
classes, is a great bar to their commercial progress, and has been 
cue great means of throwing almost the whole of our Continental 
export trade into the hands of foreigners residing in this town. 

We feel that a better preparation for the trade or industry in 
which we are engaged would enable us to meet foreign competition 
with a better chance of success, and that the absence of such train- 
ing must be injurious to the best interests of England. 

Our young men who are to become the future masters of the 
large factories erected by their fathers, even those who have had the 
questionable advantage of a so-called first-rate commercial education, 
require, in addition, a thorough scientific training to enable them to 
meet on equal terms the young men of the same class abroad. 

They leave school early, and ai-e taught in their father's mill the 
father's trade, in the same practical manner in which he himself has 
learned it, and which has enabled him to rise to his present position, 
when England possessed exceptional advantages over all other 
countries. 

It is now generally admitted that something more is required, if 
the young men of the rising generation are to maintain the position 
created for them by their fathers. 



VALUE OF TECSJTICAL INSTRUCTIOK. 61 

The answers given to the first two questions apply also to the 
third ; but I may mention that the trade of Bradford is not " ab- 
sorbed " by any other place or country. 

We may have abandoned the manufacture of some articles for 
which other places appear to have superior natural or social facilities ; 
but we have created other branches, which, in ordinary times, give 
more than sufficient employment to a rapidly increasing population. 

We feel nevertheless, and very keenly, that, even in the produc- 
tion of articles in which we excel, we begin to be very hardly pressed 
by other countries, which, until lately, were very far behind us, 
— particularly by Germany, Belgium, and France. 

When we examine into the causes of their success, we find that 
they all have one advantage which we do not possess; namely, a 
better system of technical education. 

Considering, also, that fifty years of peace, and the application 
of steam as a motive-power and to locomotion, have in a great 
measure deprived England of the exceptional privileges which she 
possessed formerly in her accumulated wealth and in her geographi- 
cal position, we are naturally anxious that others shall not outstrip 
us in the race by means of superior training. 

Although the same kind of loom will work equally well in Eng- 
land as in Saxony, there will be a great difference, whether the 
overlooker who superintends its working, and even the weaver who 
attends upon it, are intelligently trained workmen, or mere automata. 

The man who understands the constrviction not only of this par- 
ticular loom, but that of all other looms, must be a more efficient 
overlooker, or manager, than the mere mechanic of our factories. 

I have already referred to the disadvantages connected with the 
merely practical training of our dyers, and to the necessity for 
their obtaining a scientific knowledge of their trade. 



62 TECKXrCAL EDUCATION-. 

The German clerk — who has a good knowledge of three or four 
languages, who has been taught to understand the working of the 
exchanges in the whole world, the tariffs of diffiirent countries, and 
their commercinl laws and usages — will find employment, and rise 
into an important position or to independence, much sooner than 
the English clerk, who has not received the same educational 
advantages. 

We expect a remedy for all these evils from the movement which 
is now making such au-picious progress; and it may not be out 
of place to mention the fact, that an attempt to impart technical 
instrnction has been signall successful in Bradford. 

Years ago it was felt that some artistic education had become 
necessary, if we wished to retain even a portion of our fancy trade. 

Schools of design and a school of art were established ; and, 
though not numerously attended, they were very useful by giving 
to our pattern-designers a better knowledge of forms and of the 
proper combination of colors. 

Much more in the same direction is wanted ; but I have no hesi- 
tation in ascribing a considerable part of our past success in the 
production of fancy goods to the influence of these schools, and 
cannot but believe that equal, or even greater or more lasting, benefits 
would be derived from facilities being offered for the acquirement 
of the scientific knowledge of the principles which we have to carry 
into practice. 

The fourth question involves the whole problem which now 
occupies so much of the public mind ; and he would be a bold man 
who undertook to answer it categorically. 

We are all anxiously waiting for the Eeport from the School In- 
quiry Commissioners, and for answers to a circular issued by Lord 
Stanley to her Majesty's Foreign Legations, with reference to 
technical education abroad. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL IXSTRUCTION. 63 

After having obtained these documents, we shall be better pre- 
pared to study the whole question, and to form an opinion as to the 
svstem of technical education we may prefer. 

But I believe, whatever may be the tenor of these reports, 
the people of Bradford will be confirmed in their opinion, that 
technical instruction not based upon a system of sound elementary 
and secondary education would not meet the wants of the country ; 
and that government action in this matter ought to embrace the 
whole system of education, and not a part only. 

In no other country lias practical technical education been more 
perfect than in England; and the great number of most valuable 
inventions and improvements which have been made by uneducated 
workmen prove that this practical education has had excellent results. 

I may also state that I am convinced that no school can ever give 
the same practical education as that which is given in the real work- 
shop ; but it is evident that in places like Bradford, where this 
branch of education is so thoroughly satisfactory, teaching of a more 
scientific character would be doubly beneficial. 

To impart this necessary theoretical instruction, technical schools 
of different grades will be required ; and as your lordship has asked 
the question, "What kind of technical education we have to propose ? 
I may be permitted to conclude with a few practical suggestions. 

A polytechnic university like the Polytechnic School of Zurich, 
or the Central School at Paris, of which Mr. Samuelson gives so 
favorable an account, might be established in London, if a more 
central place in the kingdom be not preferred. 

Three or four intermediate science and art colleges in different 
parts of the country, like the Ecoles des Arts and Metiers in France, 
might prepare the young men from fourteen to eighteen years of 
age for the central university, or complete the education of those 



64: TECnXICAL EDUCATION. 

who do not intend to take degrees, or cannot aspire to the highest 
places in industrial professions. 

Local institutions, such as weaving-schools, upon the Elberfcld 
model, with schools of art, lessons in chemistry, mechanics, and 
higher mathematics, might be spread over the whole country, each 
adapted to the industry of the district, and all connected with and 
aided by the superior schools and central university. 

Evening classes might greatly assist the yoi^fhs who have not yet 

obtained the benefit of those improvements in primary and secondary 

education, which, we trust, may not only give us more intelligent 

workmen and overlookers, but will afford to the rising generation 

in general that education which has so greatly assisted Germans 

and Swiss to become such dangerous competitors in the world's 

trade. 

I have, &c., 

(Signed) Jacob Beheexs. 

To the Right Honora"ble the Lord Robert Montagn, 3J!.P., Vice-President 
of the Committee of Council for Education, &c. 



DECLINE OF SILK MAXUFACTURE IX EXGLAXD. 

The following letter from Mr. Francis Beimoch to 
Mr. J. Hole sliows that a lack of suitable technical edu- 
cation had much to do with the decline of silk manufac- 
ture in England. 

80 Wood Steeet, E.G., Jan. 23, 1868. 
Dear Sir, — In reply to your letter and circular, received a few 
weeks ago, desiring me to note down any facts connected with the 
decline of the silk-trade in England, I feel obliged to embrace a 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 65 

wider range of view than the question at first sight might appear 
to render necessary. 

Primarily, permit me to observe, that, although the French treaty 
may have hastened what has been almost a catastrophe in the silk 
manufacture, it had very little, if any thing, to do with the abso- 
lute decay. The skilled English operative is, in my opinion, quite 
as clever as the foreigner. The ignorance or incompetence exists 
where few suspect, — not in the worker or weaver, but in the master 
or employer. Protection fostered and pampered the trade, rendering 
a moderate profit possible and easy. But, when the competition be- 
came closer, ignorance succumbed to skill; for, unhappily, protec- 
tion enabled many men to live by manufactures who knew little or 
nothing of manufacturing. I shall briefly notice the various stages ; 
and, with the exception of the skilled weaver, I fear I shall have to 
condemn, or at all events criticise severely, and give little credit to, 
the trained ability manifested by those who profess to conduct the 
silk business. 

Raw Material. — At the very outset, the English manufacturer 
is placed at a great disadvantage. No silk is produced at home : all 
must be imported. He relies, to a large extent, on China, Japan, 
and India, for his supply. The markets of France and Italy are 
opened to him ; but there he is forestalled by the enterprising manu- 
facturer of France, Switzerland, and Germany. 

The English manufacturer chiefly depends for his supply upon 
the silk brought to London. The French, Swiss, and German 
manufacturers contract with the agents at Milan, or elsewhere, for a 
supply of the exact article required. Excellency of manufacture 
depends greatly on the evenness of the thread. In this respect the 
French and Italian silks are admirable. To secure this the greatest 
care is indispensable at the very first operation, — that of reeling 
6* 



QQ TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

from the cocoon. In all Asiatic silks, not only is this important 
process most negligently executed, but, when completed, the pro- 
ducer not only takes no heed as to keeping the several sizes apart, 
but brings to bear the utmost ingenuity to put together into the 
same hank several sizes, by reeling, first the coarsest, then a finer, 
and a finer still, until the coarse is completely enveloped in, or plated 
over, by a quality infinitely superior : so that the silk in this way 
may appear ten or twenty per cent better than it really is. 

To separate and re-diviJe such hanks, and arrange them in exact 
sizes, is next to impossible. The remedy for this must be applied at 
the fountain-head. But Avho is to do it 1 The importer of silk 
is not, or very seldom is, interested in silk manufactures : so long as 
he can obtain silk in exchange for his calicoes, shipped to the East 
upon terms that leave him a profit, he cares little how it is produced, 
or what becomes of it. With careful reeling, there is no reason why 
the excellent fibre of the Chinese silk should not rank with the best 
Italian. 

What has been done once may be repeated with advantage. I 
remember the time when Brutia silk ranked very low in this mar- 
ket, lower than our ordinary Cliina : but some enterprising men, 
accurately estimating the value of the fibre, arranged to have it 
reeled on the Italian or French system ; and the result was, that a 
silk once lightly esteemed now ranks with the best French or Ital- 
ian silks, and for lace purposes is preferred to any other. Taking 
a money criterion, a silk which stood so low, if reeled as formerly, 
would not now, in this market, be worth more than twenty-one to 
twenty-four shillings, is at present worth forty-four to forty-eight 
shillings per pound. 

This very year supplies a further ai-gument in favor of the ad- 
vantage of careful reeling. There have been great variations in the 



YALTJE OF TECHNICAL I]SrSTEUCTIO:Nr. 67 

quantity imported ; but it is found to be so irregular and badly 
reeled that it cannot be used with advantage in the fabrics most in 
demand. The consequence is, that, whereas French and Italian 
silks are even higher in price than they were a year ago, Asiatic 
silks are lower by twenty to twenty-five per cent. Here, one Avould 
think, is inducement enough for enterprising men to imitate a Aviser 
system. But again I ask, Who is to do it 1 No substantial im- 
provement in this respect can take place until the importer or mer- 
chant, and manufacturer or consumer, come closer together, and 
work with or for each other. At ^jresent they are kept apart, and 
are ignorant of each other, by a system that damages both. Did 
the manufacturer come in contact with the merchant, and fully dis- 
cuss his requirements, the merchant would, for his own advantage, 
duly advise his agent in China or Japan, who would instruct the 
native producer ; and so, in a short time, the evil pointed out might 
be partially amended, if not entirely overcome. 

Throwing. — The throwster, again, is a middle-man; occasion- 
ally, but not alwaj's, a manufacturer. His business is to take the 
silk as imported, split up the skeins into their appropriate sizes, 
Avind, twist, and prepare the silk for the manufacturer. This is 
the second and most important process; and carelessness on his 
part, or -want of skill in separating and arranging the sizes, must 
be shown in the manufactured goods. 

His work is delicate and difiicult, and, I must admit, conducted 
with little notion as to his responsibility. 

The general custom is, that, for a certain price per pound-weight, 
he undertakes to throw the silk into organzine, or tram, or warp 
and weft, and return the same weight. Thus if the throwster re- 
ceives a hundred pounds silk, valued at thirty shillings per pound, 
he throws it, and whatever it produces (say ninety-five pounds of 



68 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

thrown silk) with five pounds waste, which he returns to the dealer at 
33s. Gd. ; the 3s. &d. being the amount agreed to cover the charge 
for throwing, including waste. Here, you will observe, lies a great 
temptation, which few are able to resist. 

In the best silks, the natural gum forms from eighteen to twenty- 
four per cent : this natural gum must be boiled out before the silk 
can be properly dyed. To secure himself a better profit, the throw- 
ster takes out as little of the foul or rough thread as possible, 
though every rough thread makes an imperfection in the web ; in 
addition to which he will increase the quantity of soap used to 
soften the gum and make the silk more easy to wind, and, by leav- 
ing a portion of this adhering to the silk, he may lessen the dif- 
ference in the raw silk received and the thrown silk returned, by 
two or three per cent. Indeeil, so skilful have some throwsters be- 
come in this respect, that they can not only return the full weight 
receiv-ed, but have some to spare, although five per cent to ten per 
cent must go in waste during the many processes through which 
the silk is put in the course of throwing. 

I have frequently known instances when silk lost in boiling off 
from thirty per cent to thirty-five per cent in gum, soap, and other 
abominations ; though the natural gum did not exceed twenty per 
cent to twenty-two per cent. 

Mark the result : no really first-rate manufacturer on the Conti- 
nent will look at English thrown silk for high-class gooils. I freely 
admit, that, among the throwsters, there are many skilled and hon- 
orable men ; but they hav^e little influence to counteract the pre- 
vailing feeling, which is not a prejudice, but a principle. Men do 
not like to pay thirty shillings or forty shillings per pound for soap 
worth only sixpence per pound. 

All this is destructive to our reputation as producers of prepared 



VALUE OF TECHiTICAL IKSTHTJCTION. 69 

material, and most damaging to our home manufacturers, who, to 
a large extent, depend upon the English throwster for their supply 
of material. With material so prepared, what reasonable being 
could expect excellency of result 1 

Dyeing. — We have some very good practical dyers, but few 
who have been scientifically trained in chemistry. The consequence 
is, that, even in hIacJc, large quantities of silk are sent, at very heavy 
expense, every year to the Continent to be dyed, returned to Spital- 
fields, Coventry, Derby, Manchester, &c., to be woven, — a fact 
most discreditable to the dyers of England, and a great disadvan- 
tage to the manufacturer. 

Manufacturing. — Here I take up the observations made at 
the outset, — very few of our manufacturers have any true technical 
training. To a great extent, they depend upon help supplied in the 
shape of a foreman, who has probably been a weaver, and knows 
something of putting silk together, but very little of the nature or 
inherent quality of silk, yet is made responsible for selecting a silk 
which he thinks may answer in producing a class of goods which his 
master has decided to make. A certain kind of silk has produced 
certain results before; and they think it probable that the silk 
offered them by the dealer may do the same again. And (in Cov- 
entry, for instance) it is frequently handed in bulk, so much organ, 
so much tram, with instructions to make the material into such 
and such goods ; and they see no more of it until it is returned in 
the manufactured state. How can that be called manvifacturing ? 
The uncertainty as to the size of the material they use, and the 
ultimate result, renders it almost impossible for the professed 
manufacturer to estimate what the cost is of any given article 
until it is produced; whereas the foreign manufacturer, by the abso- 
lute knowledge of every department of his business, the reliimce he 



70 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

can place on his material, and his skill in desif;;n, is enabled, after 
a careful examination of almost any pattern that can be laid before 
him, to give an estimate of cost within one or two per cent. 

Instead of continuing the unpleasant task of showing what the 
English manufacturer cannot do, I shall endeavor to depict or de- 
scribe the training necessary to make an accomplished manufac- 
turer; and, in doing so, I shall not draw on my imagination, but 
keep steadily in view examples of men who have pursued a similar 
course of training. One of the great obstacles to success in silk 
manufactures in England is pride, as if being a manufacturer was 
an absolute degradation. It is not so on the Continent. 

When the usual course of education is finished, and the young 
man has to determine, or his friends have to determine for him, 
what his future career is to be, his studies are regulated accoixlingly. 
If a manufacturei", he attends classes and lectures on natural 
science, with special reference to the branch of manufacture ho 
intends to prosecute, — whether w^ool, linen, cotton, oi* silk, and does 
not waste his time on much discursive study. He studies the differ- 
ent kinds of silk, ascertains their nature, what classes of goods they 
are beneficially adapted for, and what they are not : so that, when he 
comes to practical working, he knows to a certainty what to reject, 
and what to select for his purpose. Along with this he prosecutes 
the study of chemistry, and, by experiments, learns what class of 
silk is best adapted for certain colors, and Avhat is not. Equipped 
with this indispensable fundamental knowledge, he proceeds to 
Italy, or elsewhere, and practically engages in reeling from the 
cocoon : by and by he enters a throwing establishment, and be- 
comes acquainted with every detail. In future life he can not only 
describe what he requires, but how it may be accomplished; for 
the ultimate result depends much more on the character and ex- 



VAI.UE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 71 

actness of the several processes than many would suppose. Ai-med 
with this knowledge, he returns, and studies the art of design, and 
how best to produce a desired effect without the waste of a thread of 
material, and probably, for a year or so, practically studies weaving, 
and becomes a weaver at the loom. He is thus able personally not 
only to superintend, but practically carry out, every sclieme his 
imagination can suggest. 

With judgment so matured, and knowledge so complete, it re- 
quires no depth of reasoning to decide how easy would be the 
victory of such a man over the untrained manufacturers of Eng- 
land. 

I will only describe one process to show the difference between 
the practice in Basle and Coventry. In Basle, when the wai-p is 
completed, it is arranged ready for the loom, stretched over and 
between two beams, and carefully examined. Every nib, knot, and 
rough part is removed from the threads, so that, when in the loom, 
the weaver drives along merrily. The shuttle seldom, if ever, ceases 
through imperfection in the warp. Whilst in Coventry, the silk is 
warped and put into the loom as it comes from the dyer; and, while 
the weaver is picking and cleaning bis warp before it comes to the 
baton, he not unfrequently has one or two pickers or cleaners be- 
hind the loom, removing the rough part from the threads, with 
many stoppages and delays in the process of weaving. Any one 
may see that the one is clumsy and primitive, whilst the other is 
characterized by common sense, skill, and considerable economy. 

No man can pretend to show that the weavers of Lyons, St. 
Etienne, Zurich, Basle, or Crefeld, are superior to those of Spital- 
fields, Coventry, Norwich, Manchester, and Macclesfield ; but any 
one who would venture to maintain an equality of skill, practical 
and mechanical knowledge, on the part of our manufacturers, would 



72 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

only expose his ignorance of the facts so easily acquired by all who 
wish to obtain them. 

In many respects the Swiss have carried their technical knowl- 
edge a step beyond the French. What but the personal skill of 
the manufacturer could have enabled Zurich, in many classes of 
goods, to successfully compete with Lyons, or Basle to rival St. 
Etienne ? These are facts which cannot be gainsaid ; and we can- 
not but lament the supincness, or want of pluck, in our manufac- 
turers, who lazily permit a most beautiful branch of induiitry to be 
taken from us. 

Those Avho call for protection seek to protect, not trade, but 
ignorance and idleness. 

Take one instance. Immense quantities of spun silk are pro- 
duced in England, sent to the Continent, made into ribbon-velvets, 
and returned to England in quantities almost beyond belief. The 
mere expense of carriage and expenses of various kinds cannot be 
estimated at less than ten per cent. Here is protection enough to 
stimulate enterprise ; and yet, of the hundreds of thousands of 
pounds' value of velvets imported annually, scarcely a piece is made 
in England. What is the reason ? Nothing but the want of well- 
trained, practical scientific mechanical skill. If the French Treaty 
had been the cause of distress in Coventry, St. Etienne would neces- 
sarily be in a state of high prosperity; but it is not so. St. Etienne 
is as badly off as Coventry, so far as ribbons are concerned. Basle, 
by superior technical skill and great economy, has beaten St. Eti- 
enne, as well as Coventiy ; and, while these ancient cities are in a 
state of collapse, Basic seems to enjoy a high tide of successful in- 
dustry. 

As regards Coventry, fashion has much to do with its great de- 
pression. While women wear doyleys, or small mats, on their heads, 



VALUE OF TECHKICAL INSTItUCTIOX. 73 

the ribbon trade must languish. But that has little to do with the 
general question ; and you may gather from what I have stated, that 
•we have, in my judgment, small hopes of recovering our prestige in 
any branch of silk manufacture, until importers, throwsters, dyers, 
and manufacturers will each and all earnestly resolve to acquire all 
technical knowledge connected with the trade, and, working together, 
determine to apply it. 

It would be unjust to close these hurried notes without stating 
most emphatically, that combinations among the men, and the de- 
termination of a small set of workmen to establish trade-lists, or 
prices, was the beginning of the decay of our silk manufactures. I 
have personally had instances where many thousands of pounds' 
value of goods were ordered on the Continent because of some small, 
wretched, technical objection on the part of the weaver, or of his 
tyrant, the Trade Union, because it seemed to interfere with a trade- 
list in Coventry. My memory supplies me with one case where 
an order was declined, although the weaver could have made over 
forty shillings a week wages, had the price offered been accepted ; 
the result being, that, in one season, more than twenty thousand 
pounds' worth of goods was ordered on the Continent which might 
have been produced in England. 

Perfect freedom to employ or dispose of labor is an indispensable 
element for the future success of the silk-trade in England. 

I am, &c., 

Francis Beunoch. 

FREXCH TESTIMONY. 

By imperial decree, June 22, 1863, a large and able 
commission was appointed to inquire into the character 



74 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

of technical instruction throughout France. Some 
thirty different persons, whose evidence it was thought 
would be most valuable, — professors, heads of colleges, 
and manufacturers, — were summoned before the commis- 
sion. The abstract of evidence taken by the commission, 
and the report it made June 20, 1865 (Gen. A. Morin, 
reporter), were deemed so valuable by the British Gov- 
ernment, that a translation of the same was made and 
presented to both houses of parliament by command 
of her Majesty. Extracts will be given in different 
parts of this volume. 

In his evidence, M. Girardon, founder and director of 
the Central School at Lyons, professor at La Martiniere 
Scliool, a free technical school, says : — 

" The majority of the pupils of La Martiniere succeed in the 
careers in life which thej select. There are in the town of Lyons 
a large number of skilled artisans who have sat on the benches of 
the school. The principal dyers are old pupils of the school ; and to 
them is due the increased prosperity of the trade of the town by the 
remarkable discovery of the new and fashionable colors. The 
Polytechnic School has also received many of the pupils ; and it is to 
their first success in La Martiniere that they owe the brilliant 
position they have obtained, — a just recompense of their assiduity." 

The evidence of M. Houel, manager of the Derosne 
establishment of Cail and Company, contains some things 
not directly pertinent to this chapter ; but, as the directly 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 75 

pertinent parts cannot be readily separated from the 
rest, the whole is given. M. Houel says : — 

" I shall commence with the question of the instruction of ap- 
prentices. I believe that in the principal centres of industry, as 
Lille or Mulhouse, more favorable conditions could be created than 
at Paris. Thus at Fives, at the establishment of Parent, Schaken, 
Caillet, and Company, of which I am the fourth partner, we have 
begun to give special instruction to our appi'entices ; and, doing this 
in the interest of the children and in that of the parents, we believe 
that it is also in the interest of our establishment. 

"In fact, the provincial workshops are under quite different con- 
ditions from those in the capital. At Paris, as many workmen as 
are wanted can be found : in the provinces, on the contrary, it is 
often difficult. We are compelled to create a staff of employes and 
operatives, who, we wish, may become attached to our establishment : 
we must attract both children an I parents by making it easy for 
them to find dwelling-places and schools close to their work. This 
is what we wish to effect, and in which we have already succeeded in 
many centres. 

" Our establishment, founded now about three years, employs 
fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred men : we have sixty apprentices ; 
and we are thinking of raising the number to three hundred or 
four hundred. Our apprentices have one hour of intellectual labor ; 
but we believe, that, to learn properly, they should have four or 
five hours daily. We would willingly allow it to them ; and we 
should probably arrive at an instruction which would qualify 
some of them to become candidates for the schools of arts and 
trades, and that under conditions very favorable to their prac- 
tical knowledge. 



76 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

" It has sometimes been spoken of to make workmen study at 
night : I believe that to be almost impossible. A man that has been 
at work all day cannot study, unless, indeed, he has an exceptional 
constitution. A man who has the care of a family, who works at 
piece-work, and gives all his energy to it, has need of the evening 
for rest. According to my idea, the working-man cannot gain much 
by studying at night : he may go to his class one evening, but he 
will not go again. It is the apprentice with whom we should occupy 
ourselves, because he is of an age to divide his time between manual 
and intellectual labor. 

"Now-a-days it is necessary to have educated workmen. France 
sends as many artisans abroad as England. When wc have a work- 
man to send to Italy or Spain, we inquire what he knows, and we 
find, that, in genei'al, he is a thoroughly practical man, who knows 
his work perfectly ; but if we ask him to make a calculation, or to 
keep an account of petty cash, we directly discover his incapacity. 
On the other hand, if we take a pupil from the schools, wc find him 
less practical than the working-man, less able, on the whole, to meet 
the requirements of the situation. In fact, Ave are compelled to send, 
in preference, a man who is not educated, but who knows how to 
work. Wliat is wanting, then, is a man capable of working, yet in- 
structed ; and it is therefore of the greatest importance to trade to 
promote the instruction of apprentices by attaching a school to the 
workshop, as we have done at Fives. 

" I confess I have here given utterance to an idea which deserves 
to be considered practically. It would be well to examine in detail 
what are the cases where a child, giving six hours of Avork a day to 
his master, can be replaced by another child Avhile the first one goes 
to school. There are circumstances under Avhich there would be 
some difBcidty in making apprentices thus alternately go to Avork ; 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 77 

but I think, that, in most cases, it would be possible. Thus, in a work- 
shop like ours, I do not see why we could not employ two hundred 
apprentices, as well as thirty or forty : in fact, the majority merely 
work as assistants to the workmen, and could easily be replaced in 
this work by others. It is only when a child has himself commenced 
a piece of work, that it cannot be finished by another. But I think 
that this difficulty can be overcome by having twice as many chil- 
dren as are wanted for their work, and by giving each of them only 
half of what he can do in twelve hours. 

" I think, then, that it would be an excellent plan to organize in 
one large industrial establishment an intellectual training sufficiently 
advanced to allow of practical and scientific acquirements being 
placed on the same footing, and to enable parents who are sufficiently 
enlightened to send their children to the schools of arts and 
trades. For my own part, I know of no better instruction to make 
able workmen than that which is given at those schools, because 
there the studies run parallel to one another. We are indebted 
to them for the fact, that, in mechanical construction, we are the 
equals of any other nation in Europe. We ourselves employ a 
great number of the pupils of these schools. Of the three hundred 
who pass out of them every year, there are some who are more or 
less not so well prepared ; there are some of whom we can make 
nothing but workmen, sometimes even only moderately good work- 
men : but there are others who are very intelligent, and have prof- 
ited to the utmost by the intellectual and scientific training they 
have received. Such as have not been able to learn mathematics, 
but possess practical capabilities, become excellent foremen. We 
meet with men among them who have a great liking for practical 
acquirements, because in general they are good draughtsmen. A 
young man who can work well, and is skilful with his hands, is also 

7* 



78 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

a good draughtsman ; and that is one of the first qualifications of a 
good foreman. 

" We are all the more in a position to feel the want of workmen 
who have a knowledge of drawing, in that our method of manufac- 
ture ( which we owe to the schools of arts and trades) is quite different 
from that adopted in England, and from that which, for a long time, 
was in use in Prance. I am the manager of two works, — those of 
Messrs. Cail and Corai^any, and those of ^lessrs. Parent, Schaken, 
Caillet, and Company, which employ together about five thousand 
hands. That number might be easily increased to fifty thousand, if 
we had a suflSciency of draughtsmen. Our method consists in 
giving full details of every work, piece by piece : so that the work- 
man has only to execute the piece according to the drawings which 
are confided to him. With a large staff of draughtsmen we pro- 
duce works at these establishments to the amount of over thirty 
millions of francs, which would be an impossibility without our 
means and process of maufacture. 

" It must be acknowledged, that, in large workshops, apprentices 
arc not in such favorable circumstances for learning their trades as 
in smaller ones. Establishments with large capital undertake con- 
siderable contracts, and are therefore compelled to make many 
things of the same description. In a small workshop, on the con- 
trary, where they execute a variety of works, the same objects are 
not turned out in so large a number. We manufacture in our three 
establishments a hundred and fifty locomotives ; and we could 
make two hundred : there are therefore many parts which are re- 
peated. If a young man executes well a piece of work which is 
intrusted to him, it may happen that he has given to him the same 
work for a year or more ; and he will be able to make a profit by it. 
In a pecuniary point of view, it is at once the interest of his em- 



VALUE OF TECHNICxU. INSTRUCTION. 79 

ployers, of his parents, mid of himself, that he should continue for 
some time manufacturing the same thing. 

" In the schools of arts and trades, this method is not adopted. 
There the pupils are made to execute works Avhich are gradually 
made more and more difficult, so that their acquirements may in- 
crease gradually. But this mode of instruction has also its incon- 
veniences ; for the result is, that the pupils cannot produce their 
work rapidly. They ought to execute in these schools a greater 
quantity of work, and to have among the pupils a number of skilled 
mechanics to show them how to turn out their work quickly. "We 
take every year fifteen pupils from the school at Chalons ; and, as 
they are much sought after, we do our best to obtain the best. For 
two years they are employed in our workshops, and are then sent 
into the drawing-office : at the end of four or five years, they are of 
great service to us. But it is evident, that, if they were more con- 
versant with manual labor when they leave school, they would not 
have to pass two years in the workshop : they could be spared that 
probation, and would be sooner in a position to occupy higher 
posts. Works of greater importance ought to be executed in the 
schools; and if, by the side of the pupils, there were a few picked 
workmen who knew how to turn out work well, they would serve 
as an example to the young men of the school ; and those who pos- 
sessed industry and ability would endeavor to emulate them in 
rapidity of execution and skill." 

A sub-commission investigated and reported on tech- 
nical education in Germany and Switzerland. Of the 
prosperity of Nuremberg this sub-commission says : — 

" There exist in Germany certain institutions, all having for their 



80 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

object, though differing in form, the professional training (properly 
so called) of workmen. Foremost among the things tauglit in these 
schools, or classes, which are lield on Sundays or evenings, always 
stands freehand and linear drawing. In some countries, as in Wur- 
temberg and Bavaria (Nuremberg), drawing is the especial object 
of these schools ; and the impulse it has given to all the industries 
requiring that art are sufficiently striking, and so generally recog- 
nized as to render evident the usefulness and necessity of this branch 
of instruction. 

" A glance at the immense variety of children's toys with which 
Nuremberg supplies the whole world will suffice to show the pro- 
gress due to this diffusion of the art of drawing. The very small- 
est figures, whether men or animals, are all produced with almost 
artistic forms ; and yet all these articles are made in the cottages of 
the mountainous districts of the country. They find employment 
for the whole population, from children of tender age, as soon as 
they can handle a knife, to their parents ; and this home manufacture, 
which does not interfere with field-work, contributes greatly to the 
prosperit}^ of a country naturally poor and sterile." 

The same sub-commission, in giving an historical ac- 
count of the schools of arts and trades in France, tells 
the following anecdote of the first Xapoleon, which in- 
dicates the value he placed upon technical education : — 

" One day the emperor, while still first consul, paid a visit to 
the college at Compiegne, and questioned some of the elder pupils as 
to what they intended^ do on leaving the college. He was much 
dissatisfied with their answers. * The government,' said he, ' pays 
considerable suras to educate these young men ; and, when their 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL LSTSTEUCTION. 81 

studies are ended, none of them, except those who enter the army, 
are of any use to the country. Nearly all of them remain at home, 
a burden to their families, which they ought to aid. This shall 
continue no longer. I have just visited the great manufacturing 
establishments in the north, and the larger workshops of Paris. I 
everywhere found foremen clever in the manual labor of their trades, 
but scarcely one among them able to draw the outlines, or make the 
most simple calculations, of a machine to convey his ideas by a 
sketch or a written description. This is a great defect ; and I will 
here provide the means for remedying it. There must be no more 
Latin here (that will be learned in the lyceums about to be organ- 
ized), but the study of trades, with so much theory as is necessaiy 
for tlieir progress : by this course we shall obtain well-taught fore- 
men for our manufactories." 

VIEWS OF PROF. LEOXI LEVI. 

Prof. L^oni Levi, Doctor of Economic Science of tlie 
University of Tiabingen, having investigated technical, 
industrial, and professional instruction in Italy and 
other countries, made a report to Lord Montagu, tlie 
vice-president of the Committee of Council on Educa- 
tion in Great Britain. This Keport was ordered by the 
House of Commons to be printed, Dec. 6, 1867. After 
describing the instruction in different countries, Prof. 
Levi says : — 

"This is but a general review of what is'^eing done with a view 
to promote scientific and technical instruction in different countries, 



bZ TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

yet it is sufficient to show that the greatest attention is devoted to 
the subject ; that a general desire is evinced to advance in industry, 
not by the empincal method of chance acquisitions, but by a pro- 
found study of the great principles of art and science ; that experi- 
mental science is attracting an extensive number of laborers, intent 
upon making fresh discoveries and greater conquests over the grand 
and mysterious powers of matter; and that the exercise of the dif- 
ferent professions of life is no longer left in the hands of persons 
untaught and undisciplined, but is everywhere made to depend on 
an extended knowledge of the sciences which they demand, and of 
the duties which they impose. 

" What is done in this country towards promoting objects of 
such paramount importance 1 The principal defect in popular edu- 
cation in this country, I apprehend, is a want of elevation of mind 
and of capacity of exercising force or power of thought. There 
appears to be a want of agility and adaptability in the mental pow- 
ers of our working-classes, produced, probably, by the early ages 
at which they are sent to work, the hardness, constancy, and same- 
ness of labor, and by the dull and unenlivening climate. In the 
constant use of machinery, the laborers in the manufacturing dis- 
tricts become, to a great extent, the slaves of mechanical force, and, 
bound to follow the automaton by a constantly watchful eye, they 
lose that vivacity of mind which is necessary to the efficient pursuit 
of every branch of industry. Nor have the majority of laborers 
much opportunity to acquire an intelligent knowledge of the work 
they have to do. 

" The only means generally provided for learning the work is by 
the system of apprenticeship; but, in the hurry and turmoil of the 
workshop, no attention is paid to the principles of the work. By 
constant practice, by great care, by natural aptitude, the laborer 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 83 

may acquire an unrivalled excellence of workmanship ; his eye may 
be so sharpened, and his touch so refined, as to be able to detect the 
most infinitesimal flaw in the work at hand : but ask him to alter 
his course, or to introduce any novelty, and he is utterly incompe- 
tent for it. This is the effect of apprenticeship unaided by any 
study of the principles involved in the art. The laborer is, in fact, 
reduced to the character of a copying-machine : he may be able to 
transcribe what is set before him with the utmost perfection, but 
cannot at any time alter, invent, or even skilfully control, what is to 
be done. He is rather the slave than the master of the work he has 
on hand. What the laborer really wants is a knowledge of the prin- 
ciples on which the work is done. It is not desirable to substitute 
science for practice ; but it wOuld be most useful to superadd the 
one to the other. It is not a question of abolishing the system 
of apprenticeship for the school, but to let the school be preparatory 
to or the immediate attendant of apprenticeship." 



REPLIES TO LORD STANLEY. 

In 1867 Lord Stanley addressed a circular to her 
Majesty's ministers abroad, requesting them to obtain 
and forward information relating to technical or indus- 
trial education in foreign countries. 

1. What is the nature of any technical or industrial 

education which is carried on in ? What are 

the particular industries which it is intended to pro- 
mote ? Are there any distinct schools or colleges, &c., 
for the purpose ? 



84 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

2. If there be such schools or colleges, with what 
industries are they connected ? 

3. For what class of persons is this technical in- 
struction adapted? — for masters, overlookers, or work- 
men? 

4. In what way are these institutions supported? 
and particularly do they receive any contribution from 
public funds, as endowments, subsidies from local or cen- 
tral authorities ? 

5. Wliat is the average number of the students ? 

6. AVhat is the cost to a student? Are there any 
exhibitions or free places tenable at industrial schools, 
&c. ? Do private manufacturers often defray the ex- 
penses of students ? 

7. Is there any special qualification required for ad- 
mission to the industrial school, &c.? What is the 
time usually spent by students at the schools, &c., and 
the ages and sex of the students ? 

8. TThat is the amount of the education presumed, or 
generally acquired, before admission to the school, &c. ? 
Wliat are the subjects of instruction at the school, &c. ? 
What is the mode in which instruction is given ? Is 
the instruction accompanied by participation in actual 
manufacturing works or processes ? 

9. Are there any special privileges attached to stu- 
dentship at the school, &c. ? Is any spe^^ial education 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 85 

of this kind made necessary for admission to the exer- 
cise of any particular trade or profession ? 

10. How are the teachers appointed? What qnahfi- 
cations are they required to have? How are these quali- 
fications ascertained ? and how obtained by those who 
possess them ? 

11. What advantage, if any, has resulted from these 
schools, &c., in promoting or extending the manufac- 
tures with which they are connected ? 

12. "Wliat is the opinion prevalent among the indus- 
trial classes, whether employers or employed, with re- 
gard to the working and effect of these schools? 

In 1868 the replies were presented to both houses of 
parliament by her Majesty's command. With his re- 
ply relative to France, Lord Lyons sent numerous docu- 
ments, — one a circular letter dated April 6, 18C8, which 
was sent out by the minister of public instruction in 
Prance. It accompanied a plan of studies for the spe- 
cial schools. In this letter the French minister says of 
Switzerland, — 

" Science continues its discoveries, and every day places at the > 
disposal of industry new and serviceable agents ; but, in order to be 
well applied, these agents, which are sometimes very delicate and 
sometimes very powerful, require to be skilfully handled. This is 
the reason why, in the present day. industrial progress is so intimate- 
ly connected with educational progress, and Avhy questions which 



Ob TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

it is the dutv of the university to examine and to solve have ac- 
quired so great an importance even as regards the material prosperi- 
ty of France, 

" Should any one doubt the importance of the revolution which 
is taking place, let him look at S%vitzerland, that country of lakes 
and mountains, which Nature has made so beautiftil, while at the 
same time denying it every condition required to make it the abode 
of industry, — a country loved by artists and by poets, but without 
ports, Tdthout navigable rivers, without canals, and without mines. 
Yet, from among these sterile rocks, there is exported every year an 
amount of products sufficient to pay for all the importations made, 
and more especially for the two hundred million francs' worth of 
goods which France alone sells to that people, which in former 
times cultivated mercenary warfare as its sole branch of industry ; 
and the country produces, besides, so many skilful men, that, in every 
commercial city of the world, a Swiss colony is found holding the 
first rank ; and in almost every great commercial house may be 
found intelligent clerks who have come from Basle, Zurich, or 
Keufchatel." 

IMr. Lowther, in his reply from Berlirij speaks thus of 
the general effect of technical instruction in Prussia : — 

" The advantage obtained is, that there has been a very good class 
of workmen established, which thinks, and has a knowledge of the 
things they are required to make, and consequently comprehends 
more easily. The class of workmen has become also better man- 
nered, more civilized and refined. The middle class of tradespeople 
has been able to raise the profession : it has been able to carry into 
efiect sdl repairs in factories, and to arrange and direct them in such 



YAT.UE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 87 

a way that they are cared for in the most convenient manner. It 
has been able to introduce new methods in manufactories, &c. The 
highest education of German engineers has caused the profession to 
be very much sought after on account of its extensive and funda- 
mental knowledge. By means of all these circumstances, Prussian 
establishments, like Prussian industry, have been able to raise them- 
selves. 

" The industrial classes have the most favorable opinion of thr^ 
education, as proved by the very great use made of all the technical 
places or establishments of education of all grades, &c., as ])roved 
by the necessary enlargement of existing, and formation of new, ' 
establishments. The workmen feel the influence of the knowledge 
they have acquired, and are anxious to attend the lectures at the; 
verelns (unions), which conduce to show the workman the impor- \ 
tance of theory. From ten thousand to twelve thousand men attend/ 
the lectures of the Handwerker Verein at Berlin alone. ''^ 

" Looking at the result given in answer to Question 5, that 
about eleven thousand men receive a technical education annually 
in various grades of knowledge, it will easily be understood that the 
effects of these technical establishments of education are generally 
recognized." 

Mr. Doria sends with Ms report from Stockholm a 
communication from the Swedish Government; which 
says of the technical schools in Sweden : — 



" The facts that the number of persons who seek admission into 
the schools is constantly increasing, and that manufactui'crs and 
others engaged in industrial pursuits exert their influence in every 
diet to promote the increase or extension of technical educational 



88 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

establishments, are sufficient proof that the use of euch schools is 
evident to the public, and duly appreciated." 

Of tlie good effect of the many industrial and technical 
schools in Belgium, Lord Howard de Walden says : — 

" The benefits which these institutions have conferred, and are 
conferring, upon the working population of Flanders, as regards 
their material prosperity, in resuscitating a decayed industry, and in 
opening a career of renumerative labor to all who are willing to 
avail themselves of the opportunity placed within their reach, whilst 
teaching them, at the same time, early habits of discipline and 
order, arc incontestable." 

With his reply, Lord Howard de TValden sent an 
elaborate report on industrial education in Belgium 
made by the minister of the interior in 1867. This re- 
port gives an account of a large number of local techni- 
cal schools. Of the good influence of the one at Soig- 
neis, specially designed for workers in stone quarries, and 
in which great attention is paid to drawing, the minister 
says: — 

" The school has a good influence upon the working-class, and 
upon the industry of the town of Soigiicis and the neighborhood. 
It provides this industry with efficient powers and skilled workmen, 
who work the stone with taste, and execute the most complicated 
work, and, above all, remarkable carvings, which the owners of the 
quarries could hardly undertake before, or which they were obliged 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 89 

to have executed elsewhere. On the other hand, it provides the pu- 
pils with knowledge which enables them to improve their condition 
considerably. It also acts favorably on their morality, giving them 
a taste for study, and ideas of order and providence which contrib- 
ute to the spread of well-being and competency in families." 

TESTIMONY OF MR. SAMUELSO]^. 

Mr. Bernliard Samuelson, member of parliament, hav- 
ing made a tour of observation, wrote a letter, Nov. 16, 
1867, on the industrial progress, and the education of 
the industrial classes, in Prance, Switzerland, Germany, 
&c. This letter, addressed to the vice-president of the 
Committee of Council for Education in Great Britain, 
was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed. 
Of woollen manufactures Mr. Samuelson says : — 

" In contrasting what I saw at Leeds and the older seats of the 
woollen manufacture with the worsted spinning and weaving facto- 
ries at Bradford, I had no difficulty in comprehending how it happens 
that Continental competition is being far more seriously felt in the 
former than in the latter department of the woollen trade. In the 
woollen manufacture proper, every thing has stiffened into tradition 
and routine. The most enlightened and enterprising manufacturers 
are discouraged by the passive resistance of their old-fashioned over- 
lookers and other 'leading hands.' Even in those cases where 
improved machinery is introduced, it is not used to the utmost 
advantage. One result is, that the spinners and manufacturers of 
Belgium arc exporting woollen yarns and cloths, valued at nearly 
two milhon pounds, annually to this country, produced from wools, 
8* 



90 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

a great portion of which are first imported from our colonies and 
transatlantic countries, into London, and shipped thence to Ant- 
werp. I was told by the president of the Leeds Chamber of Com- 
merce that the discouragement arising from these conditions is so 
great, that the more enterprising young men refuse to engage in the 
woollen manufacture, and enter one or other of the numerous 
branches of industry which hare recently sprung up in Leeds, and 
to which the maintenance of its prosperity is principally due. 

" It is not surprising, under these circumstances, that the manu- 
facturers of Leeds, through their Chamber of Commerce, should 
urge the necessity of giving a more free and scientific training to its 
rising generation. 

"At Bradford all is different. The worsted manufacture, a com- 
paratively young trade, is cai-ried on with the newest appliances, in 
factories admirably designed, by master manufacturers of unsur- 
passed energy, and a working population free from the prejudices 
which, amongst ignorant people, are the unavoidable accompani- 
ment of routine." 

Of the good influence of art instruction on lace manu- 
factures ]Mr. Samuelson observes : — 

" To the general depression of the Nottingham lace-ti-ade the 
manufacture of lace curtains forms an exception. To this branch, 
the admirable local school of art, the erection and fittings of which 
cost nearly eight thousand pounds, has rendered the greatest ser- 
vice. I saw some beautiful designs by pupils of the school, which 
were being executed in one of the factories ; and I have been in- 
formed that the English patterns in this branch are preferred to 
those of France, not only in England, but in the markets of tlie 
world." 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL LN^STEUCTION. 91 

The following, from Mr. Samuelson, illustrates how 
rude labor may be supplanted by machinery, the pro- 
duct of skilled labor: — 

" Apart from their general interest, the works of the Isthmus 
of Suez Canal (the beautiful drawings and models of which at- 
tracted so much attention in thq Cbamp-de-Mars) afford an in- 
stance, which I cannot omit to notice, of the resources of French 
mechanical engineering. It will be remembered that the progress 
of this great undertaking was arrested about five years ago by the 
prohibition, on the part of the Porte, of forced labor. The contrac- 
tors, finding themselves deprived of some eighteen thousand work- 
people, at once reconsidered their plans, and proposed to substitute 
special steam-machinery of an entirely original character for the 
manual labor previously employed in excavating and embanking 
the main and fresh water canals and the entrance from the Medi- 
terranean, Nearly the whole of that machinery, costing several 
millions sterling, was executed in France, — about six hundred thou- 
sand pounds' worth by Messieurs Gouin and Company of Paris. 
Within twelve months from the receipt of the order, these gentlemen 
prepared the plans of the dredges, barges, cranes, &c., and delivered 
and erected at Port Said a sufiicient quantity of the material to 
commence the works ; and within three years the whole of this 
enormous plant was completed, and in satisfactory operation. Mon- 
sieur Gouin is a pupil of the Polytechnic School ; and Monsieur 
Lavallee, the contractor, to whose talent and energy the conception 
of these tools, and the resumption of the works, is due, a pupil of 
his late father at the Ecole Centrale." 

Mr. Samuelson thus describes the wonderful results 



92 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

wliicli have been achieved at Creuzot, Frarxce, by the 
technical education of the workmen and by perfect 
organization : — 

" The works were founded in 1781, and dragged on a precarious 
existence until they were purchased by Messieurs Schneider, in 
1836, after having been abandoned for several years. They arc still 
the property of Monsieur Henry Schneider (president of the Corps 
Legislatif), of his son, and a small number of other partners, with 
limited liability. When they passed into the hands of Messieurs 
Schneider, sixty thousand tons of coal were raised, and four thou- 
sand tons of iron produced, annually ; and there were no traces of 
the vast mechanical workshops whose magnificent products formed 
so remarkable a feature of the late Paris Exhibition. 

" The works now cover three hundred acres ; the workshops and 
forges, fifty acres ; and the mines yield annually two hundred and 
fifty thousand tons of coal, and three hundred thousand tons of iron 
ore : three hundred thousand tons of coal, and about a hundred 
and twenty thousand tons of ores,_are purchased. The iron-works 
produce more than a hundred thousand tons of iron, besides ma- 
chinery, locomotive and marine, iron bridges and viaducts, and 
even iron gun-boats and river-steamers, of an average yearly value 
of six hundred thousand pounds. The pay-sheets return nine thou- 
sand nine hundred and fifty work-people, and wages amounting to 
three hundred and seventy thousand pounds per annum; and the 
Steam-engines are equal to a duty of nearly ten thousand horse-power. 
These marvellous works have therefore been virtually created in 
thirty years ; and, in fact, the well-built, well-paved town of Crcuzot, 
with its churches, its schools, its markets, its gas and water works, 
and its handsome public walks, inhabited by nearly twenty-four 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 93 

thousand well-fed and decently-clad people, has taken the place of 
the wretched pit village of two thousand seven hundred inhabitants 
of 1836. There is no overcrowding ; the space in the dwelling- 
houses averaging one thousand one hundred cubic feet per head 
of the population. Notwithstanding his public duties, Monsieur 
Schneider retains the chief direction of the works. During the ses- 
sion of the chamber, the immediate management on the spot is in 
the hands of his son ; but, in the recess, he resides at Creuzot. After 
having conducted me for several hours through these vast works, 
Monsieur Schneider returned to his office to complete and despatch 
his correspondence, and debate the most minute economical points, 
items of cost, and rates of carriage, with the heads of departments ; 
showing himself, as he expressed it, ' industriel jusgu'au bout des- 
ongles.' He will forgive me for entering into these personal details. 
They are interesting to France and to England, more especially to 
England, where high political duties are still deemed almost incom- 
patible with an active industrial career. 

"To describe the works in detail would carry me beyond the 
limits of this Report. I saw no new mechanical contrivances. The 
best English designs were followed; but no appliances for pro- 
ducing perfect work, or for economizing the cost of production, 
have been omitted ; and the new forge contained under a single 
roof (a thousand three hundred feet in length and three hundred 
and ten feet in breadth) is probably unequalled in the world. A 
very large proportion of the personnel of every rank in this great 
establishment was born and has been trained on the spot ; and the 
possibility of thus forming highly-skilled workmen, competent en- 
gineers and accountants, is due, in a great measure, to a system 
of education, dating back as far as 1841, which, though it is mod- 
estly styled elementary, is far more advanced and 'special' thaa 



94 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

the term implies. The course — not necessarily followed through- 
out by all,, but open to all of sufficient capacity — extends over nine 
years, and iiicliidcs advanced instruction in French literature, his- 
tory, geography, natural philosophy, the chemistry of metals, al- 
gebra, geometry, mechanical and freehand drawing, and n)odelling. 
The more promising boys are sent to the secondary and higher 
technical schools ; and many a Crcuzot laborer's son may be found, 
who, having passed through the Ecolc dcs Arts ct Metiers, at Aix, 
has returned to fill a responsible position in the technical manage- 
ment. The other boys arc drafted from the school into the Avorks, 
and placed there strictly according to the capacity which they have 
shown at school ; some as simple workmen, others as accountants 
or as draughtsmen. Education is not compulsory ; but no Crcuzot 
boy is admitted into the works who cannot read and write, and 
none who has been turned out of school for misbehavior. 

" No doubt many of the boys, as they grow up, unlearn much of 
what they have accquired. It is not in one generation that the most 
strenuous efforts in favor of education can be expected to bear ripe 
fruit ; but a proof that they arc not illusory as to the inass may be 
found in the fact, that whereas, amongst those employed at Creuzot, 
but coming from the villages or from a distance, thirty-one per cent 
of the conscripts, on the average of the last six years, were illiterate, 
only nine per cent of those born or brought up in the town Avere 
unable to read and write. There are adult classes, less as a cor- 
rective of deficient elementary instruction than as a help to those 
who wish to carry their studies beyond that of the school. They 
are held on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, and included, at the out- 
set, reading, writing, arithmetic, geometry, natural philosophy, 
chemistry, geogrnph}-, history, linear and freehand drawing, and 
miisic; but^ of late years, sik of the heads of departments, pupils 



VALUE OF TECmnCAL mSTEUCTIOI^. 95 

of the Ecole des Arts and Metiers, have been appointed to teach 
special chisses, bearing- directly on the occupations of the workmen, 
and including, as one of the most important, a complete course of 
machine drawing. Though the proportion of adult pupils here, 
as elsewhere, is small, — five per cent of the whole number of work- 
men, — the result is, that Monsieur Schneider, in walking through 
the sheds where several pairs of marine engines were being erected, 
was able to inform me that there was not a man amongst the 
mechanics employed in that department who could not make an 
accurate drawing of the work on which he was engaged. 

" What this signifies and is worth, a mechanic alone can fully ap- 
preciate. Of the two hundred and sixty-eight superior engineers, 
managers, book-keepers, &c., a hundred and twenty-seven, or 
nearly one-half, were educated at Creuzot ; five were pupils of the 
Ecole Ccntrale ; five, of the Imperial Mining School ; twenty, of the 
three Ecoles des Arts and Metiers ; two, of the Ecole la Martini^re 
at Lyons; a hundred and four from various schools. Most of 
the latter, however, were of middle age, and entered Creuzot when 
its present system was still in process of creation. The schools 
which were opened in 1841 with ninety-one children contained 
4,065 in 1866, of Avhom 2,219 were boys; the entire number of 
children in Creuzot between the ages of five and fifteen being 4,638 
at the same period. There are eleven schoolmasters, under a chief 
director, in the boys' schools ; and the girls are taught by eleven 
sceurs. The school-fees are seven pence per month for the chil- 
dren of persons employed in the works, and fourteen pence for those 
of strangers. Wages, though they have increased about one-half 
during the last twenty years, are still low compared with those to 
which we are accustomed. They amount, on the average of the 
entu-e establishment, to 2s. 10c?. per day, including the unskilled 



96 TECH:^1CAL ZDUCATIOy. 

laborers and bojs. The aTorage wages of thos€ employed at the 
mmes and coal-pics are 2s. Sd. : at the forges, Ss. ; at the blast-fhr* 
naoes, 2». 3d. ; and in the workshops, 2*. 9</. : bat the more highlj 
skilled mechanics will earn as much as 6«. 6<f., and the pnddlers 
firom 6s. to 9s. 6dL per dar. The lowest wages of the latter, accord- 
ing to a pavrsheet exhibited in the forge at the time of mr viat, 
wCTe OS. 6rf. ; and it is worthy of ohserration, that whilst, in nearij 
eTcrr odier department, the working-staff is recruited amongst the 
children of the work-people, they are averse to the mde task of the 
paddHng fomaces, in spite of the attraction of high par : so that in 
this branch the labor is imponed generaUr from the snrroandiog 
Tillages ; boys being taken into the forge at the ages of sixteen and 
seventeen, when their frames are approaching maturity. Bat the 
traidency of modem improTemoits is to substitute mcdianical and 
chemical processes for such work as that of puddling ; and it will 
probably not be long before it is superseded. Meanwhile, the em- 
ployment of children of tender years during the night is almost en- 
tirdj dispensed with. Girls under serenteen are nerer admitted. 
Women do not work below the sur&ce, as they do in Belgium ; and 
the few females in the works, only four per cent of the whole, are 
employed in the light day-work of dressing ores, and similar occupa- 
tions. Boys scarcely ever eater the works hefore fourteen. Every 
person is paid immediately by the proprietors, and nearly all by the 
piece or the ton. The ruinous syston of contracts with middlemen, 
pursued in our iron works, is unknown. There are no " butties," 
no forge contractors earning their two pounds per day, no '* under- 
hands ^ paid by puddlers : the humblest laborer comes into pers<mal 
contact with the managers ; and his work b appraised by men of 
edncaticMD, and paid for according to its relative value. Tajiks 
showing the actual daily earnings of every man are suspended in 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL E^STEUCTION. 97 

the workshops of the several departments, so as to be open to tlie 
inspection, and to stimulate the emulation, of all, 

" In reference to the moral condition of the population, I -will 
simply state, that, during fifteen years, the entire number of serious 
felonies in the town of Creuzot was twenty-three ; but of these only 
nine would have been felonies according to our law. The number 
of misdemeanors was about forty annually; but many of these 
would not have constituted breaches of the law with us : amongst 
others, I may mention simple bankruptcy, maiming to escape mili- 
tary seiwice, and abusive language. I was told that three policemen 
form the entire preventive force. Drunkenness is rare. I certainly 
did not observe a single case during my visit." 

TESTIMOXY OF ENGLISH ARTISAXS. 

Through the efforts of the English Council of the 
Society of Arts, sufficient money was secured, mainly 
by private subscription, to send more than eighty 
skilled workmen, representing almost as many indus- 
tries, to study the Paris Exhibition, 1867, and to visit 
different parts of Erance for the examination of various 
workshops and manufacturing establishments. Each 
workman, upon his return, was required to furnish, and 
did furnish, a written report giving the result of his ob- 
servations. To most of them report-writing was a 
novel labor ; but their reports, compactly filling a vol- 
ume of some seven hundred pages, form one of the 
most valuable contributions to the industrial literature 
of the day. 



98 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

Mr. Thomas Connolly, stone-mason, says : — 

"It is impossible to estimate the lo-s which is entailed upon 
England through the neglect of art culture in every department of 
our industry. Through it we are reduced to mere hewers of wood 
and drawers of water for other nations. The bulk of our able- 
bodied population is engaged in manufacturing goods to be sold 
cheap, or in producing raw materials for other people to work; 
while the more delicate portion have to subsist on their earnings for 
want of employments suitable to their strength. The streets of 
London and our large towns are torn up with heavy traflBc, wliich is 
scarcely perceptible in Paris ; for, if a ton of iron enters there (for 
which we may get less than a pound), they are sure to put a hun- 
dred pounds' worth of labor on it before it leaves their hands. . . . 

" When a stone has to be worked to a mould, or fitted to a square 
or a straight-edge, no man can do it more workmanlike, or to a 
greater perfection, than an English mason ; but, wlien the hands 
have to realize the imagination, the Frenchman's ftimiliarity with 
art, and his early training in its principles, enable him to outstrip 
us ; and, as every buUding in Paris is more or less decorated with 
carving, you are at a loss to know how they get all their art work- 
men. But the difficulty would not appear so much, if you could 
read the large placards, in French, which are posted up at the ends 
of the bridges and other public places, informing workmen where 
they can be taught drawing and modelling every evening free of 
expense. That he outstrips the Englishman in this respect does 
not, I feel certain, arise from the possession of an especial art 
genius, but because whatever of it is in him is fully developed, and 
encouragement is given to its practice ; and, if English workmen are 
behind in this respect, it is not because art genius is deficient in our 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 99 

nature, but because it is not developed and encouraged sufficient- 

I7 

" The French Exhibition has shown us that England is far 
behind in art manufacture; so that any suggestion for our im- 
provement is worth considering. 1 believe the superiority of the 
French is owing to their education, and study of their business, both 
in and out of the workshop, to a greater extent than Englishmen." 

Mr. W. T. Swene, practical superintendent of glass- 
works, Birmingham, says : — 

" But I cannot refrain from once more pointing out the necessity 
that exists for art teaching; for we not only want skilled designers, 
but we want, in a greater degree, a knowledge of art on the part of 
our workmen. For how can a glass-blower who cannot draw the 
most simple curve be expected to have a correct eye for form, and 
true judgment in the proportions of the articles he is called upon 
to make? Or the glass-cutter similarly situated, how can he be 
expected to combine Ids decorations so as to improve, and not to 
spoil, the forms put into his hands ? In the most imjjortant point, 
we may readily receive a great lesson from the Continental workers, 
who, while improving in a great degree in the quality and execution 
of their work, never lose sight of the importance of combining 
industrial skill with the application of art knowledge." 

Mr. Benjamin Lucraffc, cbair-maker, says : — 

" Not so with chairs of an artistic character : the lines are only a 
guide up to a certain point; and, from that point, the mere workman 
stands not the slightest chance with the workman of a cultivated 



100 TEcmrrcAL education. 

taste. The art workman of Franco has a great adyantage otct us 
in England. In Paris thej are snrroundetl by works of that kind, 
which Boae bat the most obtuse can long remain nninfinenced hj. 
Their mnseams and palaces are central, and most namerons : their 
decorarions and fiumitnre are of the highest ord^ and neaiij 
always open to the people. Even the Palace of Terssailks, with its 
beaatifol Louis Qoatorze decorations, can he reached br rail as 
readily as I cant reach Sooth ^j^nsington from mj house at Isling- 
ton. I mention these adrantages the French enjov, to show, to thoee 
who think climate and our plodding race have something to do with 
oar want of taste, that there are other canses." 



]Mr. James Maekie, wood-carver, says : — 

" Our great want is good designs, something that shall not be 
an immeamog jumble, a more intelligent direction in carrying 
them out, a liberal use of thoroughly modelled works to be repro- 
dtice<I in the wood ; and not till then shall we hare a chance of 
reaching the goal side by side with other nations." 

Mr. E. Eaker. wcod-carver. says : — 

" In comparison with the French, the English carving is tame 
and spiritless. The French workman seems imbued with a true lore 
of his art, and executes it with a warmth of feeling which grres it 
life and sentiment ; and this gives his work its superiority. If we 
examine attentively a portion of French wotk, we find the main 
object of the carver is to give his work spirit and expression- Take 
a rose, for instance : it expresses all the characteristics of a rose : 
the form, the life, and even the color, is there substituted ; and yet it 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 101 

is not the exact copy of the form of a rose, for, if it was, it would 
look poor and lifeless ; but it looks rich, and full of life : and this is 
done with comparatively little labor. The carver must understand 
and feel the true spirit of the object he is carving, otherwise he may 
bestovv much labor, and display much skill and cleverness in tool- 
ing; but his work will still be deficient in that which is essential to 
its artistic merit : not that there is a total absence of this artistic 
feeling in the English work ; but they seem to have studied cutting 
their work sharp and clean, in preference to any thing else. As a 
whole, the English carving is equal, and perhaps superior, to any of 
their previous exhibitions. Their progress is seen not so much in 
what is actually exhibited, as in the almost entire absence of 
decidedly bad work. There are scarcely any of those tame and labori- 
ous imitations of nature which usually abound in our exhibitions. 
This indicates improvement in taste. . . . 

" The French workman is generally supplied with good designs 
and models, which he slightly alters to suit the grain of his wood, 
without injuring the original design : this facilitates his progress. 
In fact, the employers seem to give their workmen every scope and 
encouragement for the display of their abilities."' 

Mr. Thomas Jacob^ cabinet-draughtsman, says : — 

" France is certainly before us in design, but not in workman-] 
ship. If steady hard labor or good sound workmanship is required, \ 
the English mechanic is second to none in the world, provided he ' 
has the tools and materials to work with ; but, if art workmanship 
is required, it must come from a man, who, besides being a good 
mechanic, must, to some extent at least, be able to use the pencil also., 
Tliis being the case, just as education proceeds, and a taste for the 
9* 



102 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

/ beautiful is diffused among workingmcn generally, by means of 
/ schools of art and free access to our museums, particularly on Sun- 
/- days, so will art workmanship in this country rise to at least a 
level with that which is so much admired abroad. . . . 

" The French carvers do not work mechanically : invariably they 
make their own models to begin with, receiving only a roiigh sketch 
from the draughtsman; it being generally lefl to their taste to 
arrange it, so that they work in perfect freedom, with greater j)leas- 
ure, and thus perfection." 

Mr. L. S. Booth of Coventry, reporting on ribbons, 
says : — 

/ "The ribbons, as a whole, are artistic in design, harmonious in 
/ color, and perfect in workmanship. No painter ever put color on 
canvas, and made those colors appear like real fruit or flowers, with 
bloom and every variety of tint, with more success than have the 
varied artisans engaged in this trade done. The productions are 
perfect specimens of their kind; in wliich the artist has brought all 
his varied power to imitate nature in form, the chemist in hue and 
color, and the artisan judgment and skill to work the whole, and 
make a success. Nor should it be forgotten, that, in producing 
these patterns, there has been an enormous outlay by the manu- 
facturer for design, draught, and cards. 

" To look at these articles in detail, we must begin with those 
produced in France, the first by way of order and also excellence." 

Mr. Jolm Bandall, cliina-paiiiter, says : — 

*' "When we come to high-class ornamentation in iron, earthen- 
yrare, china, or glass, the superiority of French art is obvious. As 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 103 

long as we confine ourselves to geometrical forms in hammering, 
pressing, turning on the lathes, or printing on the surface, we have 
no difficulty in holding our own ; but where an intellectualism is 
concerned, or a free educated hand is required in decoration, our 
deficiencies become apparent. The fault is less our own than our 
rulers', who have denied us education, or who have, at least, given 
us nothing to fit us for our destinations in life, but have left us 
groping in the dark, forever feebly attempting to overtake lost 
opportunities." 

TESTIMONY OF J. SCOTT RUSSELL. 

Mr. J. Scott Eussell, the builder of " The Great East- 
ern," is one of the most justly eminent authorities on 
the education of the working-classes. From his book, 
" Systematic Technical Education of the Englisli Peo- 
ple/' the following extracts are made : — . 

" It is shown how easily education might double the value of the 
work done, of the profit reaped, and of the wages received. 
Twenty-five pounds represents the actual cost in education of a 
highly skilled over a skilless workman : in other words, the cost 
of producing a skilled workman is less than one year's purchase 
of his increased value to the nation. ... 

" It is notorious that those foreign railways which have been made 
by themselves in the educated countries of Germany and Switzerland 
have been made far cheajjcr than those constructed by us in Eng- 
land : it is known that they have been made by pupils of the in- 
dustrial schools and technical colleges of these countries ; and I 
know many of their distinguished men whp take pride in saying 



104r TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

that they owe their positions entirely to their teclinioal schools. I 
find everywhere throughout their work marks of that method, order, 
symmetry, and absence of waste, which arise from plans well thought 
out, the judicious api)lication of principles, conscientious parsimony, 
and a high feeling of professional responsibility. In the accurate 
cutting of their slopes and embankments, in the careful design and 
thoughtful execution of their beautiful but economical stone-masonry, 
in the self-denyiug economy of their large span bridges, the experi- 
enced traveller can read as he travels the work of a superiorly 
educated class of men ; and when we come down to details, to the 
construction of permanent way, arrangements of signals, points, 
and sidings, and the endless details of stations, we everywhere feel 
that we are in the hands of men who have spared no pains, and who 
have applied high professional skill to minute details. . . . 

"It seems to me almost an axionj, that intelligent men must do 
better work than boors ; that trained, skilled men must do better 
work than clumsy and awkward ones ; and that the more any man 
knows of the objects and methods of his own work, and of the work 
of all those who around him are engaged in co-operation, the more 
likely he is to do his o\yn part well, and so as to make it exactly fit 
into and form one with his neighbor's work. Thus I think that an 
intelligent community of workmen will get through their work 
quicker, will fit the parts more nicely, will finish off every thing more 
sharply, will waste less material by trial and error, and so give 
higher value, as well as quality and durability, to all their work, than 
ignorant, unrefined, ill-educated men. . . . 

" An important but perhaps not an obvious result ot the syste- 
matic technical education of men of every class trained together in 
the same schools, colleges, and university, would be a transference 
of the same organization from the school to the workshop, and an 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 105 

amount of good understanding between all fellow-workers, which 
cannot (ail to lighten individuallabor, to save much waste of pains, 
materials, and thought, and to give great unity and perfection to the 
work done. The master being only a degree better educated and 
instructed than his foreman, it is plain that less pains will be re- 
quired to make him understand what he is to undertake and do, and 
how he is to set about and do it ; and thus the master's work will 
be all the easier, and his anxiety about its satisfactory execution all 
the less. Next, the foreman or leading workman will be only a 
little more able and better informed than the men under him, and 
only a little less skilled than his master, so that he can easily make 
his washes known to those who have so much knowledge in common. 
The men, on the other hand, are perfectly prepared by their educa- 
tion and skill to comprehend the aim of their work, and its relation 
to the materials and the processes of which they are masters. 

" Here, then, is produced by community of education that 
variety of co-operation by which the greatest and noblest works can 
be executed in the best and highest way. 

" Where, on the contrary, workmen, superintendents, masters, 
have all received independent training, and come from classes of 
society kept apart from each other, even in their elementary educa- 
tion, the workman more or less illiterate, the master perhaps a 
scholar, but unskilled in work, it is plain, that, for some time at 
least, they will be kept far asunder by want of common ground for 
sympathy. To remedy this evil, the workman should have had a 
higher education, the master a more technical training ; but, in the 
absence of these, what general)}^ happens is a cure which perpetu- 
ates and exaggerates the distance between them, A middle-man 
steps in between the two, — sometimes he is a contractor for the 
labor of the men, — who says to the master, 'I know the nature 



106 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

of the men and their work ; give me the money you have set aside, 
and I will see that they do the work, and undertake that it is done 
for the money.' He takes care, of course, that he himself is well 
paid. The wider the distance between master and men, the larger 
the margin for his profit ; it becomes his interest that this margin 
shall grow: hence his skill is devoted to diminishing the wages of 
the workman and the profits of the masters. To the men he com- 
plains that the master is a screw; to the master he complains that 
the men won't work. Thus between uneducated men and un- 
skilled masters a breach is made, ever growing wider and deeper. 
At the root of much of the system of combination of men against 
masters will be found to lie this primary incongruity of knowledge 
and ignorance, skill and unskill; and from it an alienation of in- 
terests ever growing, and always fostered by meddling middle-men, 
who at last become an indispensable but balefui element, bej:in- 
ning with conciliation, and ending with alienation. It matures 
into class distinction of the worst sort, continually deepening into 
class antipathy. . . . 

"That systematic education would lead to greater equality in 
the distril)uiion of wealth, to a truer appreciation of each man's 
worth, and to a deeper interest of each man in his neighbor's well- 
doing, is not difficult to recognize. First, by equality of education 
inequalities in birth and fortune are in some measure equalized. 
Second, when ail men of the same district and of the same age have 
been trained up in the same technical schools, even though some 
have enjoyed a longer period there than others, it will follow that 
their talents and characters are known to and appreciated by their 
comrades ; and the place of each man in the rank and file of society 
is felt and conceded. The fool cannot set up as master, nor the ig- 
norant man as foreman ; neither would it be permitted, that, without 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 107 

merit, one man should monopolize a large portion of the joint earn- 
ings. The master's merits will be valued on some such principle 
as the man's merits; and the share of the joint produce to which 
a master may be fairly entitled would be subject to the same appre- 
ciation as the earnings of each man. Capital Avould still be entitled 
to interest, and labor towages; but why capital should absorb the 
profits of labor would be a question as open to debate as why one 
man should reap the crop which another had labored. In actual trade 
a very common practice is, that capital shall not merely have in- 
terest, but shall, in addition, put a large quantity of wages into the 
pocket of the capitalist, to which he gives the name of business 
profits ; and that, of course, is so much subtracted from the wages of 
the men who do the work: but when education has given to each 
man a knowledge of all the branches of his work, and there remains 
no difference of rank, excepting superior skill and intelligence, then 
each man's individual work will be weighed in the balance; and 
the true share of his merit will be appraised in the scale of wages. 
The question will be, how much in that scale the true earnings of 
one man outweigh those of another. Under the present system, the 
master of a thousand men may pocket, in the shape of profits, one- 
half of the whole earnings of all the men, or he may pocket only a 
sum equal to the wages of a hundred men ; but it w^ill then be a 
matter for consideration whether one man in the same trade, pos- 
sessing skill of the same sort, can really be entitled to a just charge 
for his services of ten or a hundred times the wages of his skilled 
and educated fellow. It is plain, that, under such a scale of estima- 
tion, these unequal proportions Avould be likely to diminish ; and in 
tlie end that would be considered gi-eat merit wliich should give a 
man not only the honor of leading Ms fellow-craftsmen, but also 
the advantage of double wages : the idea of giving him tenfold or a 



108 TECHNIC^VL EDUCxVTIOX. 

hundred-fold would have disappeared from the catalogue of possi- 
bilities. The education of the future will, therefore, lead to a great 
reduction of masters' wages or profits, and to a fair, fixed remunera- 
tion for capital invested, and to a fair division of the earnings for 
work among those skilled men who execute it, in some recognized 
proportion to the contribution which their skill makes to the com- 
mon work. Equality will be then, as now, impossible ; but the 
scale of each man's life may be one of steady, continual, meritorious 
rise. . . . 

"In our opinion, the philosophers are far before the people in fore- 
seeing the times that are coming ; and the people don't take warn- 
ing because they are not educated. Agriculture is in revolution ; 
for agriculture is becoming chemistry, and husbandry is becoming 
machinery : yet our agriculturists have not become chemists, nor 
our husbandmen mechanics. In common trades a revolution is 
coming ; for all that is done Avithout skill is going to be done by 
dead machinery, not by intelligent men ; and it is well that it sliould 
be so, for mere routine processes, requiring brute strength, without 
refinement or intelligence, can all be better done, more evenly, regu- 
larly, and unvaryingly, by dead matter than by living force ; and 
it is, moreover, better for the intelligent and moral being that he 
should not be degraded to the level of the brute elements, or 
lowered to the rank of an unsentient macliine. Why should a 
human being be doomed to spend his days in mounting and 
descending a ladder with twenty-seven burnt bricks on his shoulder, 
while, at one-tenth of the cost, a machine made of iron, and fed with 
coal, wdl do the work, if he will only undertake the more intelligent 
task of tending, feeding, oiling, and repairing it? This last de- 
mands education, intelligence, conscientious care, all the qualities 
that go to make a man a superior, thoughtful being. Who, then. 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTEUCTION. 109 

can regret the time coming when every occupation which requires 
no skill, and only brute force, shall cease to be the daily work of 
a human being, and when that being shall be raised to be a maker, 
worker, or director of machines ? 

" To that time the working-man is rapidly approaching, and for 
it he must befitted; but above and over him will arise the class, 
who, in their turn, are to instruct, guide, and think for him. How- 
ever skilled to work his machine, he will still depend on a superior 
to invent or make it ; on a man who shall go before him to lay out 
his work and prepare it; on a man who shall come after him to 
complete it. These are the higher departments which form the 
higher ranks of crafts : in short, above the skilled doers we must 
have the skilled thinkers. 

"In this view of an intelligent, skilled nation, it is plain that we 
shall be able to do without the unskilled, the unintelligent, and the 
uneducated. We shall not merely be able to do without him ; but 
we shall think it better to be without him. The law of society 
will become this, — that he who cannot create his food shall not 
eat it : for assuredly in the time that is coming he will not find in 
civilized Europe a place for him. The man of the future must 
have one of two qualifications, — skill to do, education to know, — 
or both. . . . 

" What is, then, tlie mercantile or moneyed value of a well-trained 
skilful Englishman, as compared to a strong, able-bodied man who 
understands no craft, handiwork, or art ? The shop-value of the 
two men is at once told by the labor-market. The one man can 
eai'n for the community twenty-five pounds a year ; the other man 
has an average of sixty pounds, and, with superior skill, a hundred 
pounds a year. Or if we take the three grades of unskilled, moder- 
ately skilled, and highly skilled men, we may represent their mean 
10 



110 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

values by twenty-five pouii'ls, fifty pounds, and seventy-five pounds : 
in other words, the highly skilled man is worth three times the 
value of the unskilled man. 

" At the present time, there are (in England) about a million of 
skilled workmen ; but there are a million of very poorly skilled, and 
two millions of utterly unskilled men. Supposing that by educa- 
tion we can raise the million of lower skilled into highly skilled 
men, and replace them by one million of unskilled men, raised by 
some little education to their rank, we have by that single act 
earned for the country fifty million pounds a year. 

" We can now put the question in a new and very precise form : 
Is the addition of fifcy million pounds per annum to the nation's 
wealth, through increased training, knowledge, and skill, worth the 
annual outlay of a million pounds from the nation's budget. 

" There is, however, an important practical question to be asked. 
Skill, capacity, and ability are not in themselves wealth ; and it 
may not be clear and obvious how this additional fifty million 
pounds is to be earned without the addition of a ^ing]e mm to the 
population. The manner in which skill creates wealth is not diffi- 
cult to understand. Take one million tons of the iron wiiich we 
export from this country in little better than the brute form in 
which Nature has providently stored it up for us immediately be- 
low the skin of our soil, and for which we now receive barely three 
million pounds ; let us suppose that we expend upon that iron a 
little of the skill which Mr. Bessemer, the great technical school- 
master in steel, can so readily teach us ; and let us convert it into, 
say, ha;f a million of Bessemer steel rails, and it will at once have 
risen to the value of six million pounds : the other half million of 
tons have gone to supply the waste, and pay the other costs of the 
process. In this case skill has earned three million pounds sterling 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL IXSTETJCTIOIT. Ill 

in a hig'lily marketable commodity. But we need not stop here. 
The steel in these rails may be converted by still higher skill into 
boilers, wheels, axles, and parts of locomotive engines ; and, if the 
skilled workmen of our country are more skilled than those else- 
where, a hundred thousand tons of that steel may be worked np 
into two thousand locomotive engines and tenders, which will alone 
be worth four million pounds ; and thus the value of this portion of 
the steel is quadrupled. 

'* It is easy to imagine what may be done with the remaining' four 
hundred thousand tons of steel. Part of it might be converted into 
agricultural steam-engines and steam-ploughs to till eveiy man's 
fields ; and in that shape the value of each ton might be taken at 
fifty pounds a ton ; so that a hundred thousand tons would be- 
come worth five million pounds. Another portion might form the 
steel of still smaller tools and implements, which, in proportion to 
their smallness and the higher ratio of skill and artifice, would easi- 
ly become of double the value, or ten million pounds. There can 
hence be no difficulty in seeing how the higher skill of the addi- 
tional million of skilled men whom we have raised by education 
could be able to earn their twenty-five additional millions of higher 
wages ; and, moreover, there can be no difficulty in seeing how the 
less skilled million below them could earn their additional wages as 
helpers to these, or as users and employers of the improved too^-s 
and machinery which the others had created. . . . 

" But to return to the mere vulgar usefulness of educated human 
beings. I will venture a remark from personal experience in my 
profession, Avhich I trust may illustrate the vast importance to us of 
educating not only governors, or masters, but of extending a high 
scientific education and skilled technical training to the working- 
men of all skilled occupations. It is this : The communitv at 



112 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

large are deprived of the use of enormous treasures in mechanical 
invention, and enormous progress in scientific arts, by the fact of 
the general want of education in those who practise them. It may 
not be known, but it is yet true, that the mechanical power em- 
ployed in all our manufactures is infinitely more costly than it need 
be. It is equally true that some skilled men of such professions 
know thoroughly how to produce immense economy in the produc- 
tion and use of mechanical power ; but that we dare not put the 
means into the hands of the uneducated masters under whose con- 
trol they would be applied. I am not now speaking of a loss of 
five, ten, twenty, or thirty per cent: I say that we know that we 
are only utilizing one-tenth to one-twentieth of the power we employ and 
waste, and that an economy of one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, 
and four hundred per cent, is quite icithin our power so soon as a better 
informed, higher skilled, more perfectly trained class of men and masters 
shall arise, who are fit to be trusted with the use of instruments and 
tools at present utterly beyond their comprehension, control, or 
application to use." 

Tlie following is from the Nineteenth Keport (made 
in 1872) of the Science and Art Department of the 
Committee of Council of Education, England : — 

" The steam class established by Mr. Taylor, Cushnie, Kincar- 
dineshire, for the instruction of ploughmen in the management of 
agricultural steam-machinery, has also been successful. Mr. Tay- 
lor writes, ' As to the ploughmen's class in steam and mechanics, 
there is no doubt, that, after draining, cultivation by steam-power is 
one of the greatest modern improvements in agriculture ; but the 
great want is skilled men in the different districts competent to 



VALUE OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 113 

work the engines. The class has done much good in dispelling 
prejudice which existed among ploughmen against steam cultiva- 
tion and evening classes. For the first time they find that edu- 
cation has a money-value. In the last letter I had from one of the 
men sent to the Scottish Steam-Cultivation Company, he told me 
he was then earning twenty-five shillings a week : when lie left, 
about six months ago, his wages would be about fourteen shillings. 
All the others I have sent ai'e getting not less than nineteen shil- 
lings.' In a subsequent letter, Mr. Taylor states that he has received 
an aj)p]ication for twenty additional trained ploughmen, — an appli- 
cation he is unable to comply with. The demand for skilled labor of 
this description is so great, that Mr. Taylor intends carrying out his 
class through the summer months, instead of, as customary, only in 

the winter." 

10* 



CHAPTER III. 

IMPORTANCE OF VARIED EDUCATION. 

The testimony of the extracts given in this chapter 
seems to place it bej'ond question, that, — 

1. Special knowledge is not sufficient to produce even 
the best special results. The best workman is always 
the one who has a knowledge of tools and principles 
beyond the direct requirement of his work, whatever 
that may be. The best scientist is always the one who 
acquaints himself with otlier departments of science than 
the one to which he is specially devoted. The best 
artist is always the one who does not limit himself to 
his specialty, but studies the whole circle of art. Tliis 
breadth of study and work gives a breadth of knowledge 
and training wliich decidedly strengthens the man for his 
specialty, be that however rude. 

2. A thorough technical education, embracing all that 
science and art can bestow, is not enough to produce 
the best industrial results : there is need of the addi- 

114 



IMPOETANCE OF VARIED EDUCATION". 115 

tional discipline which comes only from the study of 
letters. Tlie man must he fanned, as well as informed, 
before he is fully educated even for practical purposes. 
In science and art alone there is not enough of the for- 
mative, disciplining, shaping element. Whether they 
have more of this element or less than letters, may he 
a debatable question ; but they certainly have less than 
science, art, and letters together. Hence, in the edu- 
cation of workmen, the literary and the technical should 
combine ; the more of each, the better. 

3. Since apprenticeship has virtually ceased through 
the subdivision of labor, it is doubly necessary that the 
public schools should give the elements, scientific and 
artistic, which form the basis of a technical education. 
And they should do this without diminishing the lite- 
rary culture they now impart. Only by such an en- 
largement of the common school curriculum can the 
great bod}'- of laborers secure the education so essential 
for their welfare, and be kept from degenerating into 
mere machines for doing a limited variety of work. 

4. The introduction of systematic manual labor into 
public schools for elementary instruction appears to be 
a thing of altogether doubtful expediency. Girls may 
be advantageously taught the use of the needle ; while 
boys may, by way of pastime, be taught the use of a 
few tools by using them. In technical schools, how- 



116 TECHISTCAL EDUCATION. 

ever, manual labor may be judiciously introduced ; 
but it should never take the leading place. This man- 
ual labor should always be of such a character as to 
show the student the practical application of his studies, 
and not labor simply to aid the student in supporting 
himself. It is questioned by some whether there should 
be any manual labor at all in the highest technical 
schools ; they preferring that the studeut should acquire 
what of practical application he needs by work in actual 
fields of labor. Bat in apprentice schools, — schools 
attached to workshops and manufactories, — as it is the 
leading object of these schools to teach practical appli- 
cations, systematic manual labor should, of course, form 
the leading feature of the instruction given. There can 
be no doubt that a certain amount of manual labor, 
especially if it shows the practical application of the 
theory which the student is acquiring, does not retard, 
but decidedly promotes, his progress in theoretical 
knowledge. 

LITEBAEY A^'I> SCIE^'TIFIC TRAIXrN'G. 

The following is from the evidence of M. Monjean, 
Director of the Chaptal ^lunicipal School, Paris, taken 
by the French Imperial Commission mentioned in the 
last chapter : — 



IMPORTANCE OF VARIED EDUCATIOiT. 117 

" M. Monjean's observations on the results of the practical 
schools [Real Schnlen) in Germany have led him to the conclusion, 
that the prevalence of an instruction purely practical, and based 
entirely on the applied sciences, has directed the attention of young 
men exclusively to subjects of self-interest and immediate profit, and 
has quenched the generous aspiration which sees in life something 
else than mere ])rofit to be realized : the moral, in fact, is sacrificed 
to the mechanical man. Moreover, though the German practical 
schools have produced such moral results, they have not obtained 
for industry and commerce the objects they had in view. On this 
point, practical experience has given decisive evidence. Some mer- 
chants of Cologne and of Magdeburg, having selected from the prac- 
tical schools and the gymnasia a certain number of young men of 
equal intelligence and capabilities, placed them at the same kind of 
work. For a short time, the pupils who had been brought up at the 
former schools maintained a certain degree of superiority ; but, when 
they had been submitted to a longer period of probation, it was 
found that they were beaten by the pupils of the gymnasia, who, 
having received a more general and intelligent education, were 
better adapted for all pursuits to which they might be called." 

These extracts are from the evidence of M. Pompee, 
founder and proprietor of the professional school at Ivry, 
vice-president of the Polj^technic Society, (fee, taken 
by the French Imperial Commission : — 

" M. Pompee finds the results of the instruction, and the success 
of his pupils, to be most satisfactory. The methods adopted are of 
a character to keep the attention always on the stretch ; and boys 
whom want of success in their classical studies has rendered dull. 



118 TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

apathetic, and idle, have recovered at the Ivry school all their 
activity of mind : their reasoning powers are awakened ; they take 
an interest in their work; masters have not to punish, nor parents 
to compLiin. The employers under whom they find situations on 
leaving school are the first to discover the great difference hetween 
pupils trained on this plan and tlwse who have received a classical 
education. 

" On the whole, M. Pompee thinks that the tendency to attend 
special rather than general instruction is rapidly increasing in 
France, notwithstanding its present incomplete organization. Even 
in the university, the inspectors-general have had occasion to remark 
the constant augmentation in tl>e number of tho=e who attend the 
special classes. . . . 

" In reply to the question as to what should be done to organize 
in France a complete system of professional education, M. Pompee 
advocates changes of rather a sweeping character. He likens his 
plan to a railway system, with its main-line stations, junctions, and 
branch lines. First, taking all the courses of study at present pur- 
sued at the primary schools, the technical schools, the communal 
colleges, and the lycees, he would from them construct one general 
course, to extend over nine years, and to be pursued by all alike, 
rich or poor, upper, middle, or lower class, sitting side by side on 
the same benches. This would form the main line of his system ; but 
it would be impossible for all to reach the advanced years of the 
course. Just as passengers on a railway get out at the different 
stations, so the children, who, from pecuniary necessity or social 
position, are compelled to earn their livelihood at an earlier age, 
might leave school at any point of this course, subject to certain 
conditions. Along the main line he would place his branch lines, 
— the special schools, which would take at particular periods from the 



nrPOHTANCE OF VARIED EDUCATION. 119 

general course those cliildren who have to adopt a distinct career in 
life. Thus all the passengers would be admitted indiscriminately 
to the same train : they can book themselves for any destination, 
they can be carried to the end of the journey, or be set down at any 
station they may please. If they have been put down at any station, 
and have changed their mind as to their destination, they can con- 
tinue on the same road, or rejoin the nearest branch, without being 
obliged to retrace their steps. In other words, if such a general 
and uniform course of study were adopted, we should see at the end 
of every scholastic year pupils, more or less advanced, leaving the 
various classes, all, according to the amount of knowledge they 
have acquired, able to take their proper place in the different strata 
of social stratificatiOii, — some entering at once the factory, the count- 
ing-house, or the workshop ; others to undergo their apprenticeship 
in the agricultural, commercial, industrial, or art schools which are 
ready to receive them. 

" As regards the principal course, the subjects of instruction would 
be arrtmged progressively for each succeeding year of the nine years 
over which it would extend; but they would be taught in a different 
order, and on different methods from those now adopted. Thus, M. 
Pompee would postpone the commencement of the study of the 
ancient languages (of use only to the minority) until the pupil has 
reached an advanced class, when, by reason of the knowledge he has 
already acquired, and by the development of his faculties, he could 
in four years complete with pleasure and interest the classical studies 
which now occupy the whole of his time, and leave behind them 
often nothing but the recollection of fatigue and annoyance. At 
this time, that is to say, when the pupil is thirteen or fourteen years 
of age, the others who had. not determined to study Latin or Greek 
will either have left school altogether, or have been drafted into the 



120 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

institutions for special instruction. By this means, all will have 
received a thorouglily sound elementary and general education, 
forming a foundation for tlie superstructure of an extended profes- 
sional or technical training." 

In their special report on Bavaria, the Sub-Commission 
of the French Imperial Commission says : — 

" The system of industrial education adopted in 1864 lias recent- 
ly undergone important modifications, which have been suggested 
by experience, and are well deserving of attention. In the order of 
things established in virtue of a new law, which was passed after 
long discussions, the trade schools were to draw one part of their 
pupils from those educated in the primary schools, and the other 
from those of the Latin schools, which have four classes : the pu- 
pils from the latter, however, were to begin with the second year's 
course of studies. On the other hand, the instruction given in the 
trade schools, which have been somewhat ambitiously called scien- 
tijic ginnnasia, was of an order high enough to enable those who had 
received it entire to enter the polytechnic institutes. 

"But the difference in the origin and preparation of the ])upils 
of these schools opposed a serious obstacle to the progress of the 
teaching ; and it was likewise ascertained, that, if the pupils who 
entered polytechnic institutes from the literary gymnasia appeared at 
first inferior to the others for scientific studies, they generally, at a 
later period, attained the superiority over those from the scientific 
gymnasia. The pupils from these last-named establishments were 
also open to the reproach of not possessing sufficient literary in- 
struction, of being unable to express their thoughts in a clear and 
elegant style, and of being commonplace both in thought and Ian- 



IMPORTANCE OF VARIED EDUCATION. 121 

guage. Five years since, the Bavarian Council of Bridges and 
Roads had decided on admitting into the body of government engi- 
neers none bvit those, who, before entering the Polytechnic School, 
had followed the complete coarse of the literary gymnasia. The 
Administration of Mines had also constantly required the same 
qualifications. 

" One of the distinguished men, who, for many years past, have 
studied this important question, has explained the change which 
had come over his ideas on this matter. Being a devoted friend and 
successful cultivator of the sciences, he Avas persuaded that their 
study, the habit of following their methods of explaining and of 
applying their results, was calculated, as well as the culture of let- 
ters, to develop the intelligence, and form the habit of clearly 
expressing thought in good language, at the same time that it was 
capable of giving a higher tone to mind. While professing chem- 
istry, physics, and natural history in one of the first ti'ade schools 
of the kingdom, he had strenuously supported this opinion, which 
greatly contributed to procuring him the appointment of professor 
in the Mimicli Polytechnic Institute, still retaining his chair in the 
trade school. In the first-named establishment he had to deal with 
pupils from the trade school or scientific gymnasium, and also with 
those from the litei'ary gymnasium. But he soon made the discov- 
ery, that, though the pupils trained to scientific studies appear at 
first most competent to follow out their applications, those who 
come from the literary gymnasia, after completing their studies 
there, were not long ere they surpassed the others. This personal 
experience, after long and conscientious observation, won over this 
eminent professor to the opinion that the culture of letters gives the 
mind a clearness of conception and expression most favoiable to the 
study of the sciences. 
11 



122 TECUXICVL EDUCATION. 

" The experience of the military schools at Metz and Saint-Cyr 
in France has long since shown that the pupils who have been so 
fortunate as to combine advanced literary acquirements with the 
study of the sciences are nearly always those who attain most dis- 
tinction in after-life. 

" The result of the criticism and discussion to which the old sys- 
tem gave rise is embodied in the new system, which makes the trade 
schools {Gewerbe Sdmlen) a continuation of the primary schools, to 
prepare pupils for tlie schools of agriculture, commerce, and ordi- 
nary industry. By the side of the literary gymnasia for classical 
studies, there are now practical gymnasia {Real Gi/innasien), which 
impart a literary and scientific instruction sufficient for pupils who 
intend to enter the polytechnic institutes. This system is almost 
identical with that adopted in France in 1852, chiefly with a view to 
the literary instruction of youth destined for the public services, 
v,nth this fundamental and advantageous difference, however, that, in 
Ba.varia, the two kinds of establishments are separated instead of 
being united. 

" Under the present system, the establishments for technical edu- 
cation are divided into, — 

"1. Industrial or trade schools {Gewerbe iScAu/en), to which, ac- 
cording to local requirements, may be annexed special divisions for 
commerce, agricultui-e, &c. 

" 2. Practical gymnasia. 

"3. A polytechnic school, comprising four special divisions, — 
for constructions, technical mechanics, technical chemistry, and 
commerce." 

Mr. Samiielson says^ in the letter quoted from in the 
last chapter : — 



EVIPOETANCE OF VARIED EDUCATION. 123 

" I was told by several competent observers, that, although the 
Real Sckule or the Geiverhe Schule may be a more preferable introduc- 
tion to the factory and the merchant's office than the gymnasium 
(and even this is denied by some), the superior mental training of 
the gymnasium far more than compensates for the greater amount 
of 'knowledge' supposed to be acquired in the former as a prepara- 
tion for the polyteclinic school ; and this applies even in a greater 
degree to the Geiverbe Schule, in which the technical instruction is 
more special, than to the Real Schule, where it is more general. 
However this may be, and it affords matter for reflection, in the or- 
ganization of our own public schools, it is certain that the neglect 
of literary instruction in the Gewerbe Schulen, as now organized, 
tends to deprive their pupils of the breadth of cultivation which is 
the distinctive characteristic of the Germans." 

The Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, 
France, is probably the most celebrated school of the 
applied sciences in the world. From the two thousand 
young men who have left this school have come many 
of the most distinguished manufacturers and engineers. 
In their first prospectus the founders of this school said, 
" All the subjects really form only one and the same 
course : industrial science is one. Every one engaged in 
any branch sliould possess it in its entirety, under pain 
of inferiority to the competitor who is better armed in 
the struggle than himself." 

MANUAL LABOR. 

The following extract is from the evidence of M. 



124 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

Marguerin, director of the T argot Municipal School, 
Paris, taken hy the French Imperial Commission : — 

" M. Margueriu is not of opinion that the introduction of man- 
ual labor into technical schools would be productive of any practical 
benefit. He considers that one of the great advantages of the sys- 
tem of education established at the Turgot and other schools of the 
same description is, that the pupil has completed all his more impor- 
tant studies before he is too old to enter upon his apprenticeship. 
In order that the pupil might undergo a course of manual labor at 
school, he would be compelled to sacrifice some of the more impor- 
tant branches of general education, which the teacher finds to be so 
useful in the training of his pupils. It is a common argument to 
refer to the professional school at Mulhouse ; but it must be borne in 
mind that the manual labor at that school is confined to two hours 
of joiners' work in the week, and that this labor is considered more 
as an athletic exercise than as a preparation for apprenticeship ; 
also that the mechanical workshop, the chemical laboratory, the 
school of design, and the weaving workshop, which form a part of 
the Mulhouse school, only take in pupils after they have received 
several years of general instruction. . . . 

" In summing up what he has to say upon the subject, M. Mar- 
guerin repeats his objections to the introduction of manual labor 
into schools. In the first place, he believes that the expense of jjro- 
viding teachers and tools for instruction in so many branches of 
trade and manufacture would form a serious consideration ; secondly, 
that the schools are not likely to reap any profit from the sale of 
the manufactured aiticle, as it can scarcely be supposed that in this 
they can compete with well- trained and skilled artisans." 



IMPORTANCE OF VAllIED EDUCATION. 125 

M. Pompee, founder and proprietor of the professional 
school at Ivry, is reported as sajdng in his evidence 
before the French Imperial Commission : — 

"For instruction in manual labor time is wanting : it is impossi- 
ble to select from the subjects now taught any one which could be 
saci'ificcd to it. If, indeed, time could be found without injuring the 
training in elementary schools, what kind of manual labor should 
be chosen ? Should it be the plane, the file, the chisel, or the shut- 
tle 1 And where would be room for the bench, the lathe, the anvil, 
or the loom ? Where can be found a master capable of teaching 
the use of these tools, and of many others'? It is true, in case of 
necessity, the use of the spade and the rake might be introduced into 
rural schools ; but at that age it could serve rather as an athletic 
exercise than as a profitable training. It would be far better to 
devote the time to the acquirement of the elements of natural science, 
chemistry, or mechanics, which, as agriculturists, the children could 
apply in after-life. Of course, the use of the needle should not be 
neglected in girls' schools, because, whatever their position, all 
women sliould become seamstresses for their own families. Another 
stiong objection to the introduction of manual labor into schools 
would be its great cost; the necessary enlargement of the school, 
the tools and machines (to be renewed with every improvement), the 
raw material (for which, when unskilfully manufactured, there would 
be no sale), would be sources of enormous expense. In one w<)rd, 
INI. Pompee sums up, manual labor out of the workshop is nothing 
but a pastime," 

In the examination of Messrs. Gaumont and Guemied, 
editors of " The Journal of Professional Education/' by 
the French Imperial Commission; they said : -r? 
11* 



126 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

" It is often objected, that, by reason of the great varieties of opera- 
tions in tnai\ual labor, it would be ho{)eless to find an individual en- 
dowed with an aptitude or sufficient flexibility of the organs to Icam 
them all. Bur, according to the ideas of AI. Gaumont and the gentle- 
men who think with him, the processes of all manufacturing industries 
can be reduced to a certain small number of identical manual opera- 
tions. Thus the processes and tools employed in working in metals 
have many analogies v^-ith those used in working in wood : for 
example, whether a workman turns in metal or in wood ; whether 
he turns by the aid of the bow, of the foot, or of a machine moved 
by steam-power, — the operation reduces itself to nearly the same 
method of manipulation. So in fitting, it always depends on a 
correct eye and manual skill ; and the individual who can fit a piece 
of iron by means of the file will soon fit a piece of wood with the 
aid of plane and chisel. Thus both in technical and apprentice 
schools can be taught the fundamental mannal operations which are 
employed in all manufactures. Turning and fitting would form the 
practical portion of the instruction, geometry and linear drawing 
the theoretical part, and the elements of general technology the 
higher and finishing part. 

"If we consider manual labor merely as a means of instruction, 
it will still find a place in the technical school. A knowledge of 
manipulation is required in the chemical art : why should it be other- 
wise in a knowledge of the construction of machines and buildings? 
It is only possible to teach by four methods : Isi, Oral explanation 
given by the teacher ; 2d, Written explanation taken from books ; 
3d, Graphic explanation rendered by drawing ; and, 4th, Practical 
explanation obtained from execution. Up to the present time, only 
the first three methods of demonstration have been employed, and 
nothing but theorists produced : the moment that it is desired to 



IMPORTANCE OF VARIED EDUCATION. 127 

train practical men, the fourth method will be added, and technical 
instruction will have been founded. Every technical school must 
admit into its course the manual labor of the workshop and of the 
laboratory: that is its. distinctive characteristic, the cause of its 
existence. This principle admitted on general grounds, it becomes 
still more incontestable when applied to special industries. Machine 
manufacture, building, dyeing, weaving, &c., require not only a 
knowledge of applied science, but also a practical acquaintance with 
manual operations. Thus, by the side of industrial schools with 
general programmes, there must exist special schools for particular 
trades, established, like the first, to train managers and foremen ; then, 
for a lower class, apprentice schools, and public courses of lectures 
for workmen, whether apprentices or adults." 

Tlie French Commission report M. Maignen, director 
of a Mission for the Succor of Apprentices, as say- 
ing:— 

" With regard to school woi'kshops, M. Maignen does not think 
that they are productive of benefit. An apprentice can only become 
a good workman by seeing others at work, and by learning the large 
processes of manufacture. It is in the motion and life of a large 
undertaking that the intelligence and ability of a young man de- 
velops itself, that he comprehends the value of a particular mate- 
rial, that he learns the manner in which, and the conditions under 
which, it can be best worked. On the contrary, the young man in a 
small school worksho]) is at no pains to be industrious, and never 
acquires any great degree of skill." 

M. Bernat, Director of the School of Industrial Arts 



128 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

and Mines at Lille, testifies before the same Commis- 
sion : — 

" The training given in the workshops is intended to accustom 
the pupils to the working of machines and looms, to give them 
manual skill, a practical acquaintance with the processes of execu- 
tion, a knowledge of the difficulties which the raw material opposes to 
mechanical action, and, finallv, to fit them specially for undertaking 
the charge of workshops and the direction of workmen. By this 
means, the works executed excite their emulation, and the action of 
the machines becomes familiar to them ; the whole forming a techni- 
cal and experimental system of instruction which could be replaced 
by no other." 

In his evidence before the Erench Commission, M. 
Bossat, Doctor of Science, head master at Charleville, is 
reported thus : — 

" Altogether, M. Rossat has observed that the practical are in no 
way injm'ious to the theoretical studies : on the contrary, in the 
subjects descriptive geometry and industrial drawing, manual labor 
seems to stimulate the pupils. Practical work in the shops and labo- 
ratory occupies two hours a day ; and yet the pupils beg that that 
time may be extended. Already many of them possess gi'eat skill. 
The shops and all the works are under the direction of a civil engi- 
neer; and under him are three foremen, — one in the fitting, another 
in the smith's, and the third in the cai-pentcr's shop. The proceeds 
of the labor of the pupils, if any, goes towards the maintenance of 
the workshops. In the fitting-shop, the most skilful pupils are at 
present occupied in putting together a steam-engine to replace the 



IMPOETANCE OF VARIED EDUCATION. 129 

portable engine which now di'ives the machinery : others are mak- 
ing models and parts of machines to be placed in the machinery 
collection of the museum. The carpenters, of whom there are about 
thirty, learn the use of the saw, the plane, and the lathe : they make 
patterns for the iron casters, joiners' work, and carpenters' Avork, 
and models for solid geometry. There are fifty smiths engaged at 
the forge in the repair of tools, &c. ; and in the same shop there are 
employed a few pupils who are intended for the veterinary schools. 
Lastly, under the direction of the head master himself, the remain- 
ing pupils are occupied with manipulations in the laboratory." 

In liis evidence before the French Commission;, M. 
Malet, Professor at the Imperial Artillery School at 
Douai^ says : — 

" Attached to the classes are two apprentice-workshops, — one for 
working in wood, the other for working in iron, each in charge of 
a director, who is engaged to give in it practical instruction in 
manual labor. These workshops are situated in an annex of the 
town hall, which contains the normal school, and the upper pri- 
mary school. The practice includes, in the one shop, working at 
the forge, fitting, and turning in metals ; in the other, joining, car- 
pentry, upholstery, and turning in wood. It is expected, that, in 
time, these shops will be capable of turning out work which can be 
sold, and become a source of profit to the institution. The number 
of pupils is nearly fifty, about equally divided between the shops. 
Work is carried on every day, except Thursday and Sunday : it 
begins at half-past live, and concludes at half-past eight, in the 
morning." 

In their account of the Central Imperial School of 



IGO TECHNICAL EDUCATIOX. 

Ai-ts and Manufactures, the French Commission say : — 

"It has been said that the pupils of the school ought to devote 
a part of their time, like those of the schools of arts and trades, to 
manual operations ; that thej would then become far more capable 
of managing workshops. It is a mistake to think that intellectual 
and manual labor can be combined without iiiconvenicnce. Ex- 
perience has proved that they injure each other. It is not abso- 
lutely necessary to be able to perform every manual operation one's 
self in order to see that artisans do their work properly ; and it has 
often been found that he who pays excessive attention to details 
neglects the general cfifect. Should it, however, be deemed necessary 
to initiate a young man in the operations of the workman, let him, 
on leaving the school, pass a year or two in a good workshop, exe- 
cuting all kinds of work ; and he will thus learn far better than by 
practising at school." 

In their report giving the conclusions at which they 
had arrived from the evidence taken, the French Com- 
mission say : — 

" In general, the reproach brought against every school-work- 
shop is, that it does not realize the necessary industrial advantages; 
and especially that it does not accustom the pupils to that rapidity 
of execution which is one of the principal conditions of economical 
production. These objections are serious ones ; and most of the 
examples on which they are fotmded do but too well justify them." 



CHAPTER TV. 

SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF 
APPRENTICES. 

With the decay of apprenticeship, numerous special 
schools for the instruction of apprentices have been es- 
tablished in Europe. These schools are supported in 
part by local, and in part by State contributions. The 
service they have rendered to industry cannot be lightly 
estimated. 

Such schools can have no uniform organization, since 
they must be adapted to the industrial wants of each 
locality. One will be a school for weaving, another for 
lace-making, another for dyeing, another for watch- 
making, another for jewellers, another for machinists, 
another for carpenters, another for ship-builders, and 
so through tlie catalogue of industries. Of course, 
those things which are common to different industries 
can be taught in the same school. 

Labor performed under the direction of experienced 
workmen occupies a good part of the time : the re- 

131 



16Z TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

mainder is given to tliose studies which liave an imme- 
diate bearing upon the industry taught. It is draw- 
ing, that, in nearly all of these schools, holds the lead- 
ing place. When the early education has been sadly 
neglected, general instruction is sometimes given. Not 
only can the apprentice be taught more quickly and 
much better in one of these schools than he can be 
taught in the workshop, under the present system of 
labor, but he can be taught much more cheaply. As 
a general rule, a ''green hand" is not regarded as a 
valuable acquisition to any industrial establishment. 
Even for such simple work as weaving cotton cloth, there 
is a perpetual contest among the cotton manufacturers of 
New England to secure operatives of experience. In- 
deed, some mills refuse to employ a "green hand" 
under any circumstances, considering it cheaper, as well 
as much less vexatious, to employ those only who have 
have had experience, though obliged to pay them 
more for the same j^ards woven. There can be no doubt 
that it is quite time apprentice-schools were estab- 
lished at all the manufacturing centres of the country, 
in imitation of those in Europe. 

E-eference has already been made to the reports of 
the British artisans sent to the World's Exhibition at 
Paris. Some of these artisans visited other parts of 
France. John Gregory and James Stringer, watch- 
makers, thus describe : — 



SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOE, APPRENTICES. 133 

MUNICIPAL SCHOOL OF THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL WATCH- 
MANUFACTURE AT BESANQON. 

" This school is founded to secure the professional education 
of young people who intend devoting themselves to the art of watch- 
making. The city of Besancon is the principal seat of the manu- 
facture of watches in France. The manufacturers of this city, 
almost exclusively supply the French market, as, of 378,498 watches 
sold in France in 1865, Besan9on supplied 296,012, or nearly four- 
fifths of the whole number. 

" The school has for its object thoroughly to teach children 
the trade they intend to follow ; to supply, in fact, the notorious 
deficiencies of an actual apprenticeship : and, if the apprentices at 
the present time are so ignorant of the practical part of their trade, 
they are much more so of the theoretical part. The object this 
school is now carrying out on a large scale is to offer to young 
watchmakers an opportunity of constant comparison of the theory 
of watchmaking with the results at which they arrive practically. 

" The regular time for this practical and theoretical course is three 
years ; but it is desirable that the students whose aptitude and con- 
duct is reported favorably of should prolong their stay at the 
school, in order to perfect themselves. The classes are held in a 
large building belonging to the city, the situation of which is all 
that could be desired. The classes are under the management of 
a director, who carefully sees that each branch of study is dili- 
gently followed out. The teaching is divided in the following 
manner : — 

First Year. — ( Third Division. ) 

"Practical TeacJdng. — Filing, turning, hardening, and temper- 
ing metal, perfecting small tools for doing first halves of the ordi- 
naiy sizes. 

12 



134 TECHXICx\.L EDUCATION. 

" Theoretical Teaching. — Revision of early education, arithmetic, 
mensuration, geography, mechanical drawing, general principles, 
making the more simple tools and machines employed in watch- 
making. 

Second Year. — {Second Division.) 

"Practical Teaching. — Doing first halves of various sizes, piv- 
oting, and making the different parts of a cylinder escapement. 

" Theoretical Teaching. — Studj'ing style, geography, arithmetic, 
elementary geometry and its application, mechanical drawing, geo- 
metrical models, models of tools and machines used in watchmak- 
ing, designs of the different parts of a watch. 

Third Year. — (First Division.) 

"Practical Teaching. — Constructing and planting the escape- 
ment, examining, regulating. 

" Theoretical Teaching. — Course of mechanics, ideas of indus- 
trial chemistry, cosmography, commercial book-keeping and general 
geography, mechanical drawing, study of various cut-wheels, models 
of escapements, and desigiung watch-movements for the model. 

" The theoretical lectures are given in each division every day, 
from seven to nine o'clock in the morning, Thui-sday excepted. 

" The work-hours are from nine o'clock in the morning till noon, 
and from half-past one till five, 

" Drawing-lessons are given in eacli division on Mondays, Tues- 
days, and Fridays, from five till seven o'clock in the evening. 

" The course of commercial book-keeping and general geograj)hy 
for the first division is held every Wednesday, from five to seven 
in the evening. 

"On Saturday, the director examines the pupils in the work 
of the week, so as to note step by step the progress made. In addi- 



SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOR APPEENTICES. 135 

tion to the instruction given in the school, the pupils are taken 
from time to time to the different manufactories in the neighbor- 
hood, so that they may become familiarized with the various combi- 
nations and applications of machinery; and also to different work- 
^shops whei-e the several parts of a watch are made. The knowl- 
edge which they thus acquire of the methods used in the actual 
process of manufacture, and Avhich can only be gained in the work- 
shops themselves, completes the education indispensable to a 
thorough knowledge of watchmaking. 

"The school is visited each week by two members of the Board 
of Directors composed of the most skilled men in the trade, who 
take note of the quality of the work done, as well as of the progress 
of the pupils. At the expii-ation of each scholastic year, the pupils 
are subjected to a general examination, at the end of which prizes 
are awarded to the most deserving pupils. The distribution of 
these prizes takes place in public, under the direction of the mayor. 

" This distribution is preceded and followed by a public exhibition 
of the productions of the manual labor of the students, and the 
designs executed by them, during the year. The vacation begins 
on the first of September, and continues during that month. 

" The conditions of admission into the school are as follows : — 

" The school for watchmaking receives any young people, with- 
out distinction as to country or nationality. To be received into 
the school, the pupils must be able to read and write flacntly, and 
know the four rules of arithmetic. They are examined before a 
special jury before being admitted." 

The Frencli Imperial Commission, which is more \ 
fully described in the second chapter, speak thus of 
apprentice-scliools in Belgium : — 



136 TECHXICAL EDUCATIOX. 

APPREXTICE SCHOOLS IX BELGIUM. 

*' Belgium offers in Western Flanders, by her communal schools 
for apprentice-weavers (Ades communales cTapprentissage), a remarka- 
ble example of the results that may be obtained in such insti- 
tutions. These schools, in which primary and religious instruction 
is united with manual labor, are intended for the children of poor 
parents, and are adapted to the industry of the neighborhood; 
namely, weaving. The communes, aided by the "State, have pro- 
vided a building wich looms ; and, under the direction of a paid over- 
seer, these school-shops work up raw material furnished by manu- 
facturers of the neighborhood. The apprentices receive small 
wages, which increase with their capacity, until they know their trade 
well enough to be admitted into the factories, where they can earn 
a living. From fifty-five to sixty apprentice-schools of this kind 
are distributed over as many communes, and receive from tliirteen 
thousand to fourteen thousand pupils. The official reports pub- 
lished at Bruges in 1S63 show that everywhere instruction and 
habits of regular employment have produced the most successful 
results in impronng the morals not only of the children, but also 
of the parents, and that mendicity and vagrancy have almost 
entirely disappeared from those districts. 

" When the first attempts were made to organize apprentice- 
schools for the different sorts of manufactures, the exclusive and 
almost absolute direction was confided to masters who had an in- 
terest in them. It was, however, soon discovered that the authority 
charged with watching over the execution of the indentures on 
behalf of the children had not sufficient powers: consequently the 
majority of the institutions of that kind were allowed to die out ; 
and in their place were substituted communal workshops, 'created 
exclusively for the professional instruction of the working-classes 



SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOR APPEENTICES. 137 

and in the general , interest of trade ; the committees of which 
endeavor to vary the instruction of the pupil as far as possible. 

" ' The pupils of those workshops are usually compelled to attend 
school for two hours ; and, while the apprentice thus derives a rest 
by this cessation from labor, he at the same time acquires knowl- 
edge admitting of a general application. Experience has proved 
that the introduction of literary and moral instruction is effected 
with the greatest facility in those communal workshops in which it 
was not practised, and that it produces an excellent effect on the 
character and morals of the young workmen. 

" ' It has even been found that with the space of time devoted daily 
to instruction in reaiing, writing, the rudiments of arithmetic, &c., 
the pupils who attend the workshops learn almo^it as rapidly as 
those who are obliged to remain all the day at school.' 

"This remark agrees with the observations made in England on 
the half-time schools. The object of these workshops not being 
merely to show the child a loom which is to enable him to gain 
a livelihood, but also to contribute to his intellectual and industrial 
progress, 'it is sought to instruct the pupils not only in weaving, 
properly so called, but also in the preparation of the warp, in ar- 
ranging the loom for the execution of different patterns, in decipher- 
ing designs, and, in short, every thing belonging to the weaver's art.' 

"In 1863, out of fifty-four apprentice-workshops established, in 
forty primary instruction was being given to the extent desired ; 
and in fourteen only was it not completely organized. Accord- 
ing to the official returns, the organization of those special appren- 
tice-workshops, which only date from 1851, are at present fifty-four 
in number, comprising : — 

• Looms 1,285 

Apprentice Pupils 1,652 

12* 



138 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

" The number of workmen they have trained during a period 
of twelve years amounts to 13,481, the greater part rescued from 
want, mendicity, and all the vices they engender. 

" Let us add in conclusion, as is remarked by the author of the 
report, M. Rcnicr, insjjcctor of the apprentice-workshops, that a 
number of young apprentices who had never entered a school 
have left the workshops with a fair knowlcilge of reading and writ- 
ing; and that this important result has been obtained in the greater 
part of the communes which contain a workshop. It evidently 
results, from this observation, that the workshop, far from taking 
boys from the schools, is, with the aid of a good organization, a 
powerful mciins of extending the benefits of instruction, and of 
counteracting the selfish and short-sighted conduct of parents, wlio, 
without concerning then)selves for the future, only think of the 
trifling salary to be earned promptly by an ignorant workman." 

The French Imperial Commission tlius speak of the 
power-loom weaving-school at Mulhouse: — 

POAVER-LOOM-WBAVING-SCnOOL AT MULHOUSE. 

"The apprentice-workshops are not only of use in forming 
simple workmen: they may also constitute a sort of technical and 
special schools for preparing educated youths for the direction of 
manufactories. With this view, some manufacturers of Mulhouse, 
convinced of the utility of a complete instruction in the princi])lcs 
which should guide the manufacturer of the great variety of stuffs 
now produced, and enlightened by the example of Germany, raised 
by subscription, in 1861, a fund of thirty-seven thousand francs 
destined to found, as an experiment, a school of weaving with 
power-loom. This school, which is placed under the direction of 
M. E. Fri6s, admits thirty or forty out-door pupils, who pay a 



SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOR APPEENTICES. 



139 



certain sum yearly, and receive a theoretical and practical instruc- 
tion in the process of weaving, sufficient to enable them to super-^i*' 
intend manufactories. 

" To show in what degree such institutions meet the require- 
ments of trade, it will not be without interest to exhibit the pro- 
gressive results of the administration of that school during the first 
three years of its existence : — 

Receipts and Expenditures of the School of Weaving at Mulhouse 
from Nov. 1, 1861, to Nov. 1, 1864. 









Capital raised in 1861, by 








subscription, amonff the 








principal manufticfurcrs 


Eeceipts of the School. 


Expenses of the School. 


and merchants of the De- 








partments of the Hant- 








Hhin and Vosges, 37,000 




Frs." C. 






francs. 






Frs. C. 




Frs. (J. 


From Nov. 1, 




From Nov. 1,1 




Year 1861-^ 




18G1, to Nov. > 


6,178 10 


1861, to Nov. 1 




1862. Drawn 1 


15,432 70 


1, 1862, > 




1. 1862, cur- y 


14,000 80 


from the 1 






rent expen | 




capital, J 








ses. J 












Fitting up I 
Si'hoolrooms, \ 


4,600 00 










Purchase of 












machinery, 
Total expen-) 


.3,010 00 
















diture, 1861- I 


21,610 80 










1862, > 








From Nov. 1, ^ 




From Nov. l.^ 




Year 1802- ^ 




18(V2, to Nov. > 


12,540 50 


1862. to Nov. 1 




1863. Drawn 1 


13,-306 55 


1, 186:5. ) 




1, 1853. ciir-;> 


12,721 05 


from thej 






rent expen- j 
ses, J 




caf-ital, J 


















Purchase of) 












a 8team-en- > 


13,126 00 










gine, ) 












Total expen- ) 












ses In 1862- > 


25,847 05 










1863, ) 








From Nov. 1, ) 




From Nov. l,") 




Year 186.3- ^ 




1863. to Nov. } 


16,205 45 


1863. to Nov. 




1864; excess 




1, 1864, ) 




1, 1864, cur- y 
rent expen- j 

ses, J 


12,325 75 


of receipts V 
over expen- 
diture. 


3,879 70 



140 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

" The above table shows, that, after scarcelr three years' existence 
and experience, this school, in which the number of pupils was at 
first only ten or twelve at the most, has been able to organize itself, 
purchase its material and a steam-engine; and yet, having borrowed 
for that purpose only 2S,739 francs from the subscription-fund, it 
has obtained a net profit (its material and all expenses being 
paid) of 3,S79 francs at the end of the third year. This result, 
which proves what benefit the manufacturing towns derive from 
making a judicious outlay for the promotion of technical instruction, 
determined the founders to give to their school of weaving a definite 
constitution, and to form, with that object, a company with a capital 
of seventy-six thousand francs, divided into seventy-six shares of 
a thousand francs each, which were subscribed for immediately. 

" At present the school is established in a building erected for the 
purpose : it is provided with a steam-engine, with every thing that is 
necessary for transmitting the motive-power, and twenty-four 
different looms, on which various stuffs may be manufactured. It 
works not only as a theoretical and practical school of weaA-ing, but 
also as an ordinary factory, so as to cover by the sale of its ptroduc- 
tions a part of the outlay. 

"Its financial position in the month of September, 1864, was as 
follows : — 

Capital, seventy-six shares at a thonsand francs . 
Funds disposable March 1, ISO*, from the first subscription 
Surplus of receipts over expenditure in 1S63-1S64 . 

Capital disposable on March 1, 1SC4 

EXPEXPITTRE. 

March 1, 1S64, purchase of ground and costs 

Sept. 1, 1S64, building of workshops ..... 

Total expenditure 60.01s 00 

Balance 22.122 45 

86,140 45 



FrP. C. 

roi.ooo 00 

8,-2eO 75 

3.s:9 :o 


SS,140 45 

lO.OlS 00 
5<3.00-' CO 



SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOE APPEENTICES. 141 

" The school opened under these favorable conditions on the 3d 
of October, 1864. 

" The studies are partly theoretical, and partly practical ; the pupils 
passing alternately and regularly from the one to the other. The 
theoretical studies consist principally of the decomposition and 
analysis of all kinds of stuffs, especially those which concern the 
manufactures of Alsace. The course is terminated by mechanical 
drawing, the study of the internal arrangements of manufactories 
with plans and estimates, the calculating of the cost-price of manu- 
factures, and book-keeping. The practical studies consist of the 
working of the looms, the fitting-up, regulating, adjusting, preserva- 
tion, and repair of all the machinery, and, lastly, the weaving itself 
in all its operations by the pupils themselves, assisted by an experi- 
enced foreman. 

" The charge of admission to the theoretical and practical 
course of studies is six hundred francs for the scholastic year 
of eleven months ; but the pupil is at liberty to attend only 
one of the two courses. Foreigners are admitted as well as French- 
men. 

" These studies are terminated by examinations before a board of 
manufacturers and engineers, which delivers certificates of capacity 
to the successful candidates. At this examination the pupils have 
to submit to the board a general plan of the school, with its steam- 
engine and apparatus for the distribution of the motive-power, and 
with drawings of the different machines, and the complete plan of a 
manufactory. 

" It will be seen by the above details that nothing is neglected in 
the studies of the pupils , so that those who have received certificates 
of capacity are at once competent to direct manufactories of various 
kinds. We must add, that the manufacturers who founded this school 



142 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

of weaving are precluded from participating in the profits the estab- 
lishment may make, and that they have only a right to the legal 
interest on the money they have advanced, and its reimbursement on 
the breaking up of the association." 



CHAPTEE y. 

INSTRUCTION OF WORKMEN. 

In various ways it lias been attempted, with a greater 
or less degree of success, to improve the technical edu- 
cation of workmen after they have become workmen. 

1. For this purpose popular lectures have been found 
serviceable. They must, however, be specific, and not 
general : they must have a direct bearing on the employ- 
ment of the workmen. If the lectures deal with their 
subjects in a general way, they may entertain and per- 
haps stimulate somewhat ; but they will prove of little 
advantage to the workmen. While imparting positive 
knowledge, they must not neglect the reason of things, 
but set the workmen to thinking. 

But the workmen must have had some elementary 
technical instruction, or they will not be able to compre- 
hend the lectures ; for the lectures, to be of the best, 
cannot deal in glittering generalities, but must employ 
technical terms, and must usually assume that the 

143 



144 tech:st:cal edl'catiox. 

hearers are acquainted with certain elementary data. 
The workmen must also have had some elementary 
literary instruction : for it is essential that they should 
take notes of the lectures ; otherwise the knowledge 
imparted hy the lectures will, in the main, be soon 
forgotten. 

These things have been found essential to the success 
of popular lectures for the technical instruction of work- 
men. 

2. For such instruction, evening schools have also been 
found serviceable. The room in which such schools are 
held should be well warmed and well ventilated : it 
should be well lighted from above, and in such manner 
as to prevent all cross-lights. These are general requi- 
sites. The equipment of the room must vary somewhat 
according to the character of the instruction given. As 
drawing is usually the leading thing to be taught in 
such schools, precedence must usually be conceded to 
that in the equipment of the room. 

It has been found by experience that men actually 
engaged in the business in which instruction is to be 
given, as foremen, for example, and practical draughts- 
men, make excellent teachers for these evening schools. 
These teachers from the workshop know just what the 
workmen require in the way of practical application : 
they know the obstacles to be ov-ercome in applying 



INSTRUCTION OF WORKMEN. 145 

the tlieorj?-, and just how to overcome them. Usually 
they Ccinnot explain the tlieory so well as the professional 
teaclier; but their intimate knowledge of the practical 
applications of the theory enables them much better to 
satisfy the workmen, wlio are always impatient of along 
drill in theory before coming to direct applications, — a 
course that can be successfully pursued in an ordinary 
school. The very best teacher, however, for these 
schools for workmen, is the professional teaclier, who, to 
his knowledge of the teacher's art and to his knowledge 
of the theory of the thing to be taught, has added a 
knowledge of the practical applications of the theorj'-, 
whicli he may readily add b}^ investigations in the 
workshop. Thus it will be seen tliat there seldom need 
be a lack of good teachers in any place where an even- 
ing technical school is required. 

Workmen and apprentices should be taught together. 
The latter not having advanced far enough in their 
business to appreciate the value of the instruction, they 
are too much inclined to neglect it when taught by them- 
selves. But the example of the men stimulates them to 
study. As a rule, all under the age of fifteen years 
should be excluded from these evening schools. 

When the school is small, there cannot well be more 
than one class ; and all must attend to the same study at 
the same time. When the school is largC; tlien it can be 

13 



146 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

divided iuto two or more classes for the pursuit of differ- 
ent studies, or of different parts of tlie same study. 

The teacher may give his explanations to the class as 
a whole, requiring all the members to attend to the same 
tiling at the same time. Further assistance may then 
be rendered to individual members who failed to compre- 
hend the explanations when given to the wdiole class. 
This plan enables the teacher to do the most for the 
whole class in an allotted time ; but, on the other hand, 
the more zealous and intelligent members are kept back 
somewhat. 

Or the teacher may explain only general principles to 
the class as a whole ; each member making a different 
application of these principles. In the apjDlicatious the 
teacher cau render individual assistance. This plan 
does not restrain the more zealous and intelligent, nor 
need it deprive the laggards of suitable instruction, if 
the teacher is active. It also permits instruction to be 
given at the same time in two or three different trades, 
when the^' have common foundation principles, as they 
ma}^ have, for example, in chemistry, geometry, drawing. 
Thus much of the instruction in drawing required by 
the carpenter, machinist, and cabinet-maker must be 
of the same general character. 

Or the instruction may be all oral, illustrated by exper- 
iments or diagrams. This has two or three grave dis- 



INSTRUCTION OF WORKMEN. 147 

advantages. The stupid require repetition, and some- 
times those who are not stupid require it ; but frequent- 
ly it cannot be had, as in the case of experiments, or 
from lack of time. The study of the subject cannot, 
therefore, be continued out of school. Again : it is often 
essential that notes be taken ; but this many workmen 
cannot do from lack of elementary instruction. 

The conclusion is, that judicious blending of oral in- 
struction with use of a text-book is much the best thing. 
All book is out of the question. The book should con- 
tain the theory, with some practical applications ; but 
most of the latter must be got outside of books, and 
should be selected with special reference to the wants 
of the workmen receiving instruction. With the book 
before him, tlie workman more readily understands 
the teacher ; with the explanations of the teacher, he 
more readily understands the book, though the teacher 
may not always express himself as clearly as the book. 
The book can also be used out of school, which is a great 
advantage. If, however, the workman's elementary 
instruction has been neglected, he will find himself 
troubled to use even the plainest book understandingly. 
Aside from text-books, the school should have books for 
general reference. 

Whatever general mode of teaching is followed, spee- 
dy application of the theory must be a part of it, other- 



148 TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

wise the workmen will lose their interest. Indeed, 
theory and practical application must go together from 
the outset in the instruction of workmen. It is also the 
conclusion of European experience, that a small fee 
should be changed for the instruction in these schools. 

3. Museums have also been found exceedingly service- 
able for the technical education of workmen. Local 
museums must conform to the wants of the different 
localities where they are established. Thus, in its local 
museum, the dominant industry of each district should 
be specially represented. If, for example, it is the pro- 
duction of machinery, the workman should be able to 
find in the museum illustrations of just what he desires 
to learn about the application of power, and the making 
of machines. If it is the production of textile fabrics, 
all the best and latest achievements of the loom should 
be there exemplified for the benefit of the local manu- 
facturer ; and so on. In every museum, however, for 
the culture in taste and delight of all should be gath- 
ered beautiful objects illustrating the different depart- 
ments of art. 

With well-stored museums, easy of access at all times, 
the workman can use his eyes to the greatest advan- 
tage in perfecting his technical education. Through the 
eye is the readiest approach to the mind. Frequently a 
single glance of the eye will give the workman a clearer 



ESrSTHUCTION OF WORKMEN. 149 

comprehension of a principle in mechanics than he 
could obtain from a long explanatory discourse, or from 
reading a book. Then it has been well said that " taste 
is the recollection of the beautiful." Whetlier this 
definition be true or not, certain it is, that for the culti- 
vation of the taste, which is so valuable in nearly all 
industrial arts, there must be beautiful objects for fre- 
quent contemplation and study. This lacking, all other 
instruction fails to impart correct taste. 

4. In several European countries Sunday schools for 
the technical instruction of workmen are numerous, and 
well attended. 

POPULAR LECTURES. 

In their report, the Erench Imperial Commission, 
more fully described in the second chapter, speak thus 
of popular lectures for the instruction of workmen : — 

"It will be remembered, that in 1819 the first industrial courses 
of lectures were founded and organized in various towns of France 
by the zealous efforts of Baron Charles Dupin. Responding to an 
appeal, in which he eloquently invoked the memory of Gaspard 
Monge, many pupils of the Polytechnic School, chiefly officers 
of engineers and artillery in the towns where they were in garrison, 
engineers of the bridges and roads and of mines, placed them- 
selves at the disposal of the municipal authorities to diffuse a knowl- 
edge of science among the industrial population of every class. Of 
all these educational undertakings, the best organized and the 

most successful was the institution founded by the town of Metz, 
IB* 



150 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

with the aid of MM. Poncelet, rcrgery, and Bardin. The first- 
named of these gentlemen, arden+ in the propagation of science, 
then entered on the course whicli he lias since followed with such 
distinction, and which led him to explain by the aid of the rudi- 
ments of elementary geometry most of the principles and delicate 
problems of mechanical science. To him belongs the honor of hav- 
ing shown that it is not so difficult as might be supposed to popu- 
larize, and bring within the grasp of ordinary capacities, the study 
all the propositions of industrial mechanics. 

" Since M. Poncelet, others, following in his steps, have sought 
to extend the same mode of teaching in the public lectures of the 
Conservatory of Arts and Trades, and in those of the Polytechnic 
and Philotechnic Associations ; and their efforts have been attended 
with results of immense value. The first-named of these associa- 
tions instituted in 1830 popular lectures, which were, from the very 
beginning, exclusively intrusted to ex-pupils of the Polytechnic 
School. These lectures have since been established in every quarter 
of Paris; and in 1860 this same association founded in the amphi- 
theatre of the School of Medicine isolated lectures, which, in their 
turn, called pul)lic attention to this particular mode of disseminating 
useful knowledge among the people. 

"But it would be wrong to lose sight of the fiict that public 
lectures, or merely oral teaching, even when accompanied by- 
experiments made with the aid of good models and of applications 
to common questions, often leave on the memory and understand- 
ing of the auditors only evanescent impressions. This effect is still 
more certain when the audience, composed exclusively of appren- 
tices and workmen, is only prepared for the instruction given by an 
imperfect elementary education, which has not prepared them for 
mental effort, whilst their professional habits unceasingly draw them 



INSTRUCTION OF WORKMEN. 151 

towards practical and matei-ial results. The conseqvience has been, 
that notwithstanding all the talent and zeal of the professors of 
public lectures, whether in Paris or in the large towns of France, 
'this mode of teaching, in so far as it is specially devoted to working- 
men, has not produced all the results its founders expected, al- 
though truth compels the acknowledgment that it has not been 
altogether fruitless. . . 

" Though, for the technical teaching of workmen disposed to 
devote part of their leisure to studies which may be useful to them, 
it has been thought proper to give the preference to regular classes 
over public or simply oral lectures, it does not follow that such 
lectures, or even occasional meetings, may not be really useful. 
There are, in fact, a great many scientific and technical questions 
which possess great interest, not only for the workmen themselves, 
but also for their masters, for young men, and, indeed, for a host of 
people who would not submit to a regular attendance at such 
classes as those of which the organization has just been described, 
and which require punctuality and practical application. On the 
other hand, certain special branches of science, though very desirable 
to be learned, do not always admit of regular teaching, nor of any 
considerable number of lessons. A person well versed in the theory 
and practice of some particular art might be disposed to give a few 
lectures on the subject he has mastered, but would not choose to 
give a course limited to workmen only. Giving public lectures and 
holding meetings, in such cases, cannot be otherwise than beneficial ; 
and although they are not so effective for the technical instruction 
of workmen, properly so called, as regular classes opened expressly 
for them, the fact is none the less certain, that, by diffusing and 
popularizing science and experience among the public who attend 
them, much good will be done." 



1-32 TECHNICAL EDtJCATION. 

EVEXIXG SCHOOLS. 

Iq bis evidence before tbe Frencb Commissioiij tbe 
Eev. Fatlier Baudine, assistant superior of tbe Cbris- 
tian Brotbers' Scbool, says : — 

" The classes are divided into two divisions, — one, open from six 
to eight o'clock in the evening, for apprentices from thirteen to six- 
teen years old ; the other, from eight to ten, for workmen of sixteen, 
and above. Every year the works of the pnpils are exhibited in 
one of the amphitheatres of the Conservatory of Arts and Trades. 
Each work bears the name of the pupil, his age, the time of his 
apprenticeship, and the name and address of his master. A board, 
composed of mannfacturers of good position, awards and dii^tributes 
the prizes. 

" In diflFerent quarters of Paris, local committees, composed of 
mnnufacturers and persons of good position, have been formed to 
visit the different schools weekly, and to bring masters and ap- 
prentices into communication." 

In bis evidence before tbe same Commission, jNL 
Bardin, professor of industrial drawing to tbe com- 
munal scbools of tbe city of Paris, says : — 

" There does not appear to be any disadvantage in causing both 
workmen and apprentices to meet in the same class ; for apprentices 
rarely understand the utility of application, and they are encour- 
aged by the industrious workmen who frequent the classes. . . . 

"If the workmen paid, however small the sum, they certainly 
would be more regular in their attendance at the drawing-classes 
than they are now j and the instruction would be regarded more 



INSTRUCTION OF WORKMEN. 153 

earnestly by them : this is a fact which has been attested by experi- 
ence. This system has, besides, numerous precedents. The work- 
men in their practical courses take upon themselves the expenses 
of the premises and lighting. The private schools, receiving subsidies 
from the town, have about three hundred and fifty pupils who pay : 
moreover, a great number of workmen who enter their names for 
the courses of the communal schools ct)uie with the intention of 
paying. 

" The only objection that could be made is in favor of ap- 
prentices, because they earn nothing. This is true ; but, for those 
whose families could not afford these expenses, the masters, who 
give a little money every week to the youths working for them, as 
a recompense, would willingly pay the monthly fee of the school 
(which might be as low as possible), and would also undertake 
to see that the apprentice profits by the advantages offered to him." 

Messrs. Gaumont and Guemied, editors of " The Jour- 
nal of Professional Education/' said to the French Com- 
mission: — 

" All pupils attending public courses of instruction should pny 
a small fee, to give them an interest in their work. Everywhere 
where a good system of public instruction is maintained, this plan 
is adopted. At Mulhouse nothing is gratuitous : it is the same in 
all the Swiss cantons. At Paris the most frequented courses of 
drawing are those at the municipal schools, where a fee of from 
two to three francs is exacted monthly. . . . 

" To give special instruction to workmen, it is of much or even 
of more importance, that the teacher should possess a knowledge 
of the trade than of pure science. It is almost indispensable to 



154 TECHXIC.VL EDUCATION. 

have lived the life of the workshop in order to be able to elevate 
the mere handicraftsman from practice to theory." 

In their report, the French Imperial Commission 
express themselves in this wise : — 

" In towns of moderate size, where the number of pupils, and 
consequently of professors, will be rather limited, it will generally 
be found advisable to unite pupils of equal proficiency in one class : 
thus there will be no other divisions to introduce but those indi- 
cated by the degree of progress in study. But the case will be very 
diiferent in large towns ; and, whenever the number of pupils shall 
exceed forty or fifty, it will be necessary to form several classes. 
It will then be advantageous to place workmen of the same or similar 
trades under a common course of instruction, which may be more 
particularly adapted to their occupation. 

"Though it is impossible to indicate in a general report all the 
divisions which the requirements of local industries may thus in- 
troduce into technical education, still there are certain trades in 
which many workmea are engaged whose co-operation is indispen- 
sable to all the others, and for which it is pos.-ible to indicate the 
method in which the work to be executed by the pupils in their 
classes ought to be conducted. Among these industries, that of 
building is at once the most general, and al>o comprises the largest 
number of different trades ; all having recourse to the art of draw- 
ing, and requiring the rules of geometry, and sometimes even those 
of mechanics. Moreover, it may be noticed that the labors of 
these different trades all contribute to one and the same end, and 
that it is consequently desirable that the workmen who practice 
them should follow a similar course of study. It will therefore 
often be practicable to form a special class for all employed in the 



INSTEUCTION OF WOEKMEK. 155 

building trade, including masons, stone-cutters, carpenters, smiths, 
joiners, and other accessory trades. 

" The technical instruction to be given by drawing in this class, 
and which will likewise serve as applications of the rudiments of 
geometry and projection, will comprise the principal details of the 
labors of each profession. Masons and stone-cutters will learn to 
draw the different modes of construction to be employed, according 
to the nature of the materials and the parts to be executed, — simple 
and mixed masonry, chimneys, the different kinds of arches and 
their intersections, and their voussoirs and templates, staircases, &c. 
To these studies may also be added the actual execution, in plaster- 
of-Paris, of all the masoniy of certain parts, on a small scale, — a 
proceeding which has been practised with success in certain schools 
of France and Germany. Carpenters and joiners will also execute 
working-drawings of roofs and constructions in wood ; and so on 
■with other trades. 

" In towns where there are machine-workshops, it will be advan- 
tageous also to form a special class for engineers, for the purpose 
of making drawings of the more important ])ortions of machines, 
especially of such as are peculiar to the locality, or are most used. 
The series of designs executed by the pu.pils of the schools of arts 
and trades may be taken as types of the mode to be adopted. The 
artisans engaged in the different trades working in metals may be 
joined to this last class, unless there should be in the neighborhood 
some special factories employing a great number of hands, as in the 
manufacture of clocks and watches, hardware, or locks ; for whom 
a separate class ought then to be opened. 

" In one word, the object of these classes being to give each work- 
man the technical instruction required in his trade, every effort 
must be made to teach him to execute drawings of the aiticles he 



156 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

has to manufacture, employing them as means to make him com- 
prehend the principles of geometry, which he will be taught at the 
same time. He may also be required, as an application of his 
knowledge, to calculate the surface, volume, and weight of the 
objects drawn, when their forms are not too complicated. 

" It has been deemed necessary to enter somewhat minutely 
into these details, for the pur]X)se of showing that this kind of 
instruction can only be successfully given by men who are fitted 
for it by their profession, or who, from enthusiasm, have devoted 
their attention to learning all the practical details. From this it 
is evident that the teachers must, for the most part, be found among 
engineers, architects, builders, and foremen, who, without abandon- 
ing their profession, will undertake the direction of these Sunday 
or evening classes. . . . 

" These studies, intended for practical purposes, cannot, there- 
fore, be efficiently directed with all the befitting details of execution, 
with the explanation of processes, and the necessary experiments, 
except by men who have themselves practised the arts whose 
principles and rules they have to explain, and who know how to 
speak the language of the ship-yard and the workshop. Hence 
results the impossibility of establishing for professional or industrial 
teacliing, even from a general point of view, a uniform body of 
rules and methods, an organized professional staflF, in short, a univer- 
sity of industrial education. This consequence is still more evident 
in all that concerns those technical studies which have for their 
immediate object the methods, rules, and application of the sciences. 

" It is, therefore, often on the very spot where the technical 
instruction is to be given, or in the workshop itself, that many of 
the professors ought to be chosen ; and, in general, they must be 
sought among engineers, practical men, and manufacturers." 



INSTRUCTION OF WORKMEN. 157 

In Ills report, to wliicli reference was made in the 
second chapter, Prof. Leone Levi says of the canton of 
Geneva, Switzerland : — 

" There are evening industrial schools, which, after pro%'iding 
for a preliminary course on arithmetic, including decimals and the 
metric system, have, in the inferior division, geometry, physic, and 
lineal design ; in the middle division, algebra, book-keeping, 
chemistry, and industrial design ; and, in the supeiior division, 
natural history, political economy, mechanics, design, descriptive 
geometry, and chemical manipulations. The fees in these schools 
are, for regular students, five francs for the preparatory course, 
ten francs for the inferior division, fifteen francs for the middle, and 
twenty francs for the snperior. The fees for occasional or not 
regular students are five francs for the preparatory course, ten francs 
for the inferior division, eight francs for one course in the middle 
division, and ten francs for one course in the snperior division. 
Teachers are paid in part by a fixed rate per hour, and in part by 
a portion of the fees, divided among all professors in proportion to 
the number of lessons given by each." 

Prof Leone Levi further speaks in this wise of the 
evening instruction which has been provided for work- 
men in England : — 

"If, from the education of children, we pass to the instruction of 
those who have alread}' entered on the active duties of life, the want 
now felt in this country becomes still more evident. An attempt 
was early made for diffusing instruction among our artisans, the 
foundation of mechanic institutes, the original object of which was 

14 



158 TECHNICAL EDUCATIO:S". 

to impart instruction to workmen in those rules and principles 
which lie at the basis of the art they practice ; but they have failed 
to attract the mechanics. In the membership of mechanic insti- 
tutions, the mechanics, millwrii^hts, overlookers, spinners, and 
other laborers figure only in a small proportion ; whilst the number 
taking advantage of such institutions, in proportion to the total 
number of laboring-classes in anyone town, is quite insignificant; 
though it is quite possible, that, in many cases, the working-man, 
by contact with any such institution, becomes more enlightened 
and refined in manner and bearing, that, leaving his ordinary dress 
at home, he is in the evening little distinguishable from persons 
belonging to the middle class of life, and that, in many ways, the 
working-classes stiil derive from them essential benefit. 

" A mechanics' institute, as usually organized, has evening 
classes for five evenings in the week; one evening being usually 
dedicated to lectures and lighter entertainments. It has a library 
for reference and the circulation of books, and a reading-room open 
from early in the morning till late at night. The subjects of in- 
struction in the ditFerent classes are veiy extensive. They comprise 
nearly all the braiu-hes of elementary science and literature necessary 
for educated young men in the middle class of life, such as arith- 
metic, book-keeping, English composition, English grammar, 
English literature, drawing, and foreign languages, with some of the 
mjre advanced sciences, such as chemistry, gL'ometry, mathematics, 
natural philosophy, &c. ; and the fees are very low. But they are 
wanting in unity and system. The instruction is not consecutive : 
it does not extend over any definite period ; whilst there is no con- 
nection whatever between the private classes and public lecturers. 
In fact, as schools of science and art, they are in most cases very 
defeciiye ; and, as to funds or modes of existence generally, their 



INSTRUCTION OF WORKMEN. 159 

condition is most precarious, the greatest efforts being needed to 
maintain such institutions in existence. 

" Of similar character, at least in its original object, is the Woi'k- 
ing Men's College, founded in 185-t in London. The studies there 
comprise drawing, vocal music, history, and law, languages ancient 
and modern, mathematical and physical sciences, at very low fees, 
and free lectures delivered on Saturday evenings by some of our 
most eminent men. Yet the college does not draw many of the 
mechanics and artisans, the gTcater number of students being clerks 
receiving very small salaries; whilst, with fees at the lowest rates, the 
college is not self-sustaining. The good woi'k is in reality carried 
on by zealous teachers acting gratuitously; and the building itself 
was established by generous contributions. Nor is it to be won- 
dercYl at, since even the best institutions, which appeal to the 
middle and higher classes, experience the greatest difficulty, and 
are seldom self-supporting and remunerative. The classes on those 
branches of study which are of acknowledged necessity, and other- 
wise popular, attract a sufficient number of students to allow a fair 
remuneration to the teachers ; but those on subjects more elevated, 
or of more partial api^lication, are attended by too few scholars to 
render it worth while either to the teacher or the institution to 
maintain them. 

" Yet exceptions to this general rule present themselves here 
and there, and prominently so is the case of the evening classes at 
King's College, London. It is now fifteen years since, with the 
authority of the council of King's College, I opened (in 1852) 
evening courses of lectures of a practical character on commerce 
and commercial law. From year to year, those lectures attracted 
greater and increasing attention, until, in 1855, a department was 
established for the purpose of providing a complete system of prac- 



IGO TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

tical iTTstructinn to young men daily employed in business, which 
now includes divinity, Latin, Greek, French, German and German 
literature, Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew I.ui- 
jruage, history of England, geography, arithmetic, writing, mathe- 
matics, commerce (including principles of commerce and bank- 
ing), monetary science and foreign exchanges, commercial and 
maritime law (national and international), drawing, elements of 
chemistry, practical chemistry, mechanics, physiology, botany, ex- 
pcri:nental physic, mineralogy and geology, zoology, political 
economy, public reading and speaking, law, and a civil service 
class. These classes h ive been most popular from the commence- 
ment ; and from six hundred to seven hundred youths arc every 
evening there employed in learning different branches of science, 
who hcrctofbrc had no opportunity to satisfy their taste, and far 
less to obtain the necessaiy erudition for the practical duties of life. 
King's College, situated in the very centre of this great metropolis, 
fulfils in this manner a most important function in the education 
of the adult. 

"Still more recently University College, London, has established 
its evening classes, where Latin, Greek, Hebi-ew, English, French, 
Italian, German, geography, history, elocution, mineralogy and 
geology, mathematics, physic, elementary chemistry, drawing, writ- 
ing, book-keeping, English law, Roman law, jurisprudence, and 
equity and common law, are taught by men of great ability, and 
at very moderate fees. 

" Nor can I omit that most valuable institution, the City of 
London College, whose evening classes are crowded by pe-sons 
belonging to the commercial houses in the city. Some of these 
colleges and schools may succeed in maintaining themselves, though 
with great difficulty; but in the majority of cases it is otherwise, and, 



INSTEUCTION OF WOUKMEJ^. 161 

in my opinion, there will never be a sufficient provision for the 
diffusion of science in this country, especially economic and com- 
mercial, natural and experimental, unless those institutions obtain 
a well-regulated State support." 

The committee of the Hamburg (Germany) Society 
for the Promotion of Art and Industry say of evening 
schools : - — 

" On the fixing of a plan of lessons for a Sunday and evening 
school, it appears advisable, that, as far as possible, the artistic in- 
struction should be given in the evening, and the scientific in the 
daytime, as it is found from experience, that, in general, workmen 
are too exhausted after their day's work for attention to subjects 
such as mathematics for instance; whilst they appear sufficiently 
fresh for instruction in drawing." 

A committee of the Hamburg (Germany) Society 
for the Promotion of Art and Industry thus describe 

The Museum of Industrial Froducts of the Royal In- 
stitution for Industry and Commerce at Stuttgart^ 
Wurtemberg. 

" This is destined to aid in the promotion of existing industries, 
as also to lay the foundations of industries in general ; but it is in no 
way occupied with the promotion of any one special branch of 
industry. 

" The principle which is the groundwork of the institution is 
the general aim of improving the elements of industrial occupation 
14* 



162 TECHNICAL ZDUCATIOy. 

by cxhiUdons <^ real objects, and conseqaent enooaragement to 
study, and to make these aceessibte to alL 

"The moseum contains, in spacious rooms, a rich collection 
ef German and forei^ manufactures, a great number of useful 
machine and implements of all kinds, an excellent collection of 
industrial art, a trades* drawing-school, a Ubrary, a reading-room, 
and a chemical laboratory. 

"The collection of manufactures, arranged according to the 
annexed plans, contains : — 

" Leather and leather work ; work and earrings in wood, irory, 
horn, cocoanut-shell, &c. ; inlaid furniture ; works in day, cement, 
earthenware, and diina; bricks and tiles ; glass ware and glass paint- 
ings ; articles made of wax, papier-mache, gutta-percha, caoutchouc, 
plaster, &c.; bookbinding and portfolio-makers' wares; brushes; 
paint-brushes ; combs ; basket-work in straw, osier, and reeds ; pat- 
terns of clothing and ready-made clothes ; nets and hooks ; fabrics, 
and fabrics in process, made of wool, silk, cotton, flax, hemp, jute, 
&C.; colors; chemicals; combustibles; pencils; oils; glue; instru- 
ments for measuring, measures, scales and weights ; impl^nents for 
drawing ; apparatus used in cooking, in the house, for lighting, warm- 
ing, and extinguishing ; agricultural and garden tools; locks and 
keys ; door and window fastenings ; works in tin and copper, &c 

*'On account of their origin, we must particulariy notice the 
many patterns of printed, embroidered, and woren stuffs, as well as 
of paper-hangings. There are business-houses in Paris who receire 
subscriptions for the supply of all the new patterns brought out, 
and who furnish annually to their subscribers from two hundred 
to four hundred specimens. The Boyal Wurtembei^ Industrial 
and Art Department is in correspondence with such a house, 
MesbTS. T. C. Claude Brothers, 32 Rue da Sentier, Paris, and pays. 



INSTEUCTION OF WORKMEN. 163 

for example, two hundred and fifty francs annually for about three 
hundred new patterns of hangings. The patterns are tolerably 
large ; and from them drawings might be made for other purposes. 
All the patterns are bound together, with a notice of the price and 
plan of origin, and form a valuable portion of the library, which is 
more especially useful to merchants. T. C. Claude Brothers un- 
dertake, among other things, subscriptions for drawings of the 
most modern Parisian furniture. 

" Apart from this collection of manufactures, the division for 
machines and implements is to be found in an opposite room. 

"As motive-powers to set in motion the other machines, there 
are exhibited, a caloric machine, a machine moved by gas (by 
Lenoir), a two-horse locomotive, as well as a stationary steam-engine. 
After them are placed in rows articles of machinery ; viz., a col- 
lection of English castings, such as water and steam cocks, pumps, 
level indicators, balances, valves, grease boxes, gas apparatus, dya- 
nometers, &c. Farther on are articles of wrought and cast iron, 
hydraulic and other presses, an hydraulic crane (Hebervinde), a 
screw windlass, machine for raising water, fire-engines, weights, 
flour and crushing mills, looms, boring-machines, implendents for 
drilling and turning, machines for hammering and planing, imjile- 
ments for various trades, &c. Besides these, there are machines 
and contrivances for helping in household works, sewing-machines, 
washing and drying machines, apparatus for filHng and corking 
bottles, beer-pumps, &c. 

" The industrial art division of the exhibition numbers nearly 
a thousand beautiful works, executed, for the most part, by the 
newest processes of art printing. These are arranged according to 
trades, and contain works of ornamentation and art industry, for 
mechanicians, builders, joiners, paper-hangers, coach-builders, house- 



164 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

painters, wo)-kers in metal, earthenware manufacturers, as well as 
embroidery and other needleworkers, for weaving, book-printing, 
and instruction in drawing, 

" There are also exhibited a quantity of photographic pictures, 
and a great collection of price-catalogues and price-lists, which, 
besides giving information as to prices, and plans of origin, help 
also in the drawing-up of similar catalogues. 

"A great part of tliis collection is made up by the apparatus for 
instruction; and here we may particularly mention with approba- 
tion the rich collection of plaster and paper copies, as well as the 
plaster figures for the drawing-school. This collection, from the 
way in which it is arranged, gives also an opportunity of studying 
the various styles of art. 

" The public drawing-school is annexed to the industrial art 
collection, and has already been mentioned in the first part of this 
report. This is attended by artisans, who use the collections for 
their own special callings, and also by those learning art industries, 
but especially by the teachers who wish to perfect themselves for 
giving instruction in drawing. We may particularly mention, that, 
in the industrial art division, artisans receive artistic instruction 
gratis, and make diligent use of it. 

" The chemical laboratory which is annexed to the exhibition 
has the aim of making experiments as to new discoveries in the 
department of chemical industry, as well as of undertaking the 
execution of analyses. Of these, from five hundred to six hundred 
are made annually for manufacturers, and at very moderate prices, 
— almost under cost price. 

" The not inconsiderable library of the exhibition, which cm- 
braces the department of industrial activity and commerce, is much 
used, as also the reading-room, in which about seventy periodicals 



INSTEUCTIOK OF WORKMEN. 165 

relating to industrial, commercial, and economical subjects, are taken 
in, as also the directories of large comraei-cial to^ois, and a list of 
the patents granted in England and America. Lastly, there is in 
the neighborhood of the exhibition a weaving school, with looms, 
which need merely be mentioned here. 

"One department of the exliibition, which in its foundation was 
incorporated with it, has ior some time ceased to exist : this is the 
department for the exhibition of the industrial products of Wur- 
temberg. 

" This was intended to make foreign merchants acquainted with 
the home manufactures, and to promote their sale. Native manu- 
facturers were not allowed admittance, in order, as far as possible, 
to protect the exhibiter from the imitation of new fabrics by com- 
petitors. 

"Against all expectation, this department did not attain the 
desired aim. 

" The Royal Department for Industry and Commerce possesses 
a yearly revenue of ninety thousand florins, of which thirty thou- 
sand florins are annually expended in acquisitions for the ex- 
hibition. 

" This is open, on working-days and holidays, from ten to twelve 
o'clock in the morning, and from two to six o'clock in the after- 
noon. All persons who visit it for the purposes of their trade, and 
who will enter their names in a book placed for that purpose, have 
free admittance. Others pay six kreutz entrance. On Sundays, 
from half-past ten till half-past twelve o'clock, admittance is free, 
without exception. 

" The loan of patterns and of articles in the industrial art col- 
lection was particularly mentioned at Stuttgart, and pointed out as 
being especially advantageous. 



IGG TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

" That the influence of the exhibition is most salutary, as also 
that it has effected a decided progress in the industry of Wurtem- 
berg, all the manufacturers of the country would no doubt unani- 
mously admit. How extensively it is made use of, is to be seen 
from the fact that a third part of the collections is lent out at one 
time, and serves for the thorough instruction of the workmen. Let 
us reflect how long it often is before a small manufacturer (and it 
is exactly this numerous class of jDcrsons which needs support) can 
be made acquainted with new technical improvements, and can get 
to see them ; how long he continues to work with forms of which the 
fashion has already become antiquated, and uses instruments which 
have long been replaced by more convenient ones ; let us think how 
important any movement is to the manufacturer which furnishes 
him with new ideas, and how necessary it is in the present day, for 
the success of even the most skilled workman, that he should intro- 
duce novelties into the market, — we can then imagine how grateful 
the hundreds of Avorkpeople arc to the Wurtemberg Museum, which 
is of such service to them in their instruction, and the promoiion 
of their trades." 

In chapter two mention is made of the reports of 
tlie Englisli artisans who were sent gratuitously^ to the 
Paris Exhibition, 1867. One of these artisans, Mr. 
Charles Alfred Hooper, cabinet-maker, says of mu- 



" The boys serve three or four years in the trade, and have better 
advantages for getting an art education than we have. All the 
schools are open to them, where the higher branches are taught ; 
and they are not kept, as our boys, to simply reading, writing, and 



HN-STRtJCTION OF WORKMEN. 1G7 

arithmetic. The art galleries and museums are all open free to them 
Sundays and week days, so that they imbibe a taste for art and 
refined behavior before they can read or write." 

Another, Mr. Aaron Green, porcelain decorator, 
says : — 

" The shoAV-rooms and museum at Sevres are, perhaps, the 
greatest treat which a porcelain painter could be favored with : 
there he can see specimens of every country and style. And they 
are not mere specimens ; but many of them are of the rarest quality 
and value. The porcelain painting exhibited in the show-rooms 
here is not equalled by any in the Great Exhibition, and is of such 
surpassing excellence as to warrant the French in assuming a 
superiority over any other nation. Tne painting of some of the 
figure subjects is truly grand ; while the fruit and flower painting 
of Jaccober it seems impossible to surpass : indeed, I have never 
seen any thing that at all approaches it. There are large vases 
covered with ornament, which for beauty, distribution, and purity 
of form and color, filled me with amazement, and a feeling some- 
what approaching to humiliation. 

" I think there can be no doubt but that the close proximity 
of the workshops to the museum must be of immense value to the 
decorators and designers, refreshing their memory, inciting their 
ideas, and continually adding to their stock of knowledge. And in 
this instance the French teach us a lesson ; for, while the examples 
purchased from time to time by the nation are very valuable and 
instructive, they would be of more use and real service, if, instead 
of being assembled in the metropolis, each locality that is ]jre-enii- 
nently famous for some speciality had its own museum. I think 
by this means our national industry would be benefited, and the 



168 TECHNICAL EDTJCATIOK. 

general prosperity of the nation increased ; for it is obvious, tliat, 
under the present system, our artisans (at best) can sec the ex- 
am ])le.s they need only at rare intervals ; and that often, when they 
wish to make use of them, they have to depend upon recollections 
considerably weakened by time, and consequently of a very imper- 
fect character." 

Another, Mr. Beujamin Lucraft, cli air-maker, says : — 

" I will now, in as few words as possible, offer two or three sug- 
gestions whereby this state of things may be altered, and the art 
workmen of England enabled so to improve themselves in n.titters 
of taste as to successfully compete with tbe now more fortunate 
workmen of France. In the first place, the council of the Society 
of Arts may use its influence with her Majesty's Government for 
the establishment of local museums of art manufacture, with locturc- 
halls, libraries, and other necessary adjuncts and appliances, for the 
use and instruction of the people, and open at such hours as will 
suit their convenience and opportunities for attending ; which, as a 
matter of course, will be in the evening, when lectures by compe- 
tent men would be largely attended; and I venture to suggest that 
the loading industries of certain districts may form their princij)al 
feature. In this way, if for the north of London a museum should 
be established, its position ought to be as near as possible the centre 
of its manufacturing district ; and the most important industries 
of that disti-ict should be especially considered in the fitting-up, tind 
the specimens to be exhibited. For example, to assist the calnnet- 
makers, carvers, chair-makers, and upholsterers of Shored itcli, 
Hoxton, and Lower Islington, — where this trade is carried on to 
a great extent, — good specimens of different styles and times in 



INSTEUCTION OF WORKMEN. 1G9 

these branches would be of the greatest value ; and in the ndjoin- 
ing parishes of St. Luke and Clerkewell, where tens of thousands 
of the population are dependent on the trade of the watchmaker, 
the jeweller, the gold and silver workers, and all the various trades 
connected with the precious metals, examples of these, from the 
earliest times, and from all countries, would be of the greatest in- 
terest and benefit, not only to them, but to the whole nation." 

Anotlier, Mr. James Mackie, wood-carver, says : — 

" The education of the workman is of primary importance. Our 
schools have rendered valuable service; and much of our progress 
is traceable to their influence; but they are capable of doing more, 
if only a new life is infused iiito them. Our great buildings are full 
of excellent examples, which deserve to be more studied than they 
are. In our museums and galleries there are splendid examples 
of art, that, if studied, would work wonderful changes in our taste 
and ])Ower. I know that they ai*c not esteemed as they should be ; 
and I also know that they are not so accessible as they should be. 
Establish more museums of industrial art, be they ever so small, 
and let them be open at convenient hours and days for the ariisim 
class. Let the architects look to the carAang that is being done in 
cur new London ; for much of it is a scandal and a disgrace to our 
taste, and its effects upon the carver's education are most damaging. 
Something better is demanded. If we are to have any art in our 
streets, pray let it be good and instructive. Let us have open sjiaccs 
in the metropolis arranged to please the eye and develop the taste ; 
and at the same time provide the means of rest for those v/lio do 
not want the accommodation supplied in places of resort that are 
questionable. Do not forget that the education of the workman is 



170 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

not confined to the established schools ; for there are many ways of 
increasing his knowledge outside the walls of those useful places. 
Let the workman be encouraged to learn and practise the arts of 
drawing, modelling, and design ; for they undoubtedly constitute 
the very groundwork of the carver's art. Let the encouragement 
be kind, friendly, and continuous, taking the form of liberal prizes 
to the advanced workmen, accompanied with numerous small 
prizes, in order to develop the industry of all. Lectures on ait 
would be of great value ; for men would be by them induced to 
study, and put forth their strength. Let our system of instruc- 
tion and practice at our schools be simple, inviting, and interesting, 
not dull, repulsive, and crushing, as it certainly has been to 
many. We have the stuff amongst us : let it be cared for in a 
large and liberal spirit, and it will be strange indeed if the England 
of the future does not see something more worthy of her great 
name." 

Another, Mr. Thomas Jacob, cabinet draughtsman, 
says : — 

" To improve the taste of working-men, every possible oppor- 
tunity should be given them of inspecting works of art' during their 
leisure hours, that they may see what has been and is being done 
by the artists, who ai-e but men like themselves. It is unreasonable 
to expect a man to imitate or rival that which he has never ^een ; 
but after he has seen these things, if he has talent and mettle of the 
right sort in him, he will not long be content to lag behind his fel- 
low workmen of this or any other country." 

Mr. J. Scott Rnssell, in his book, "Systematic Tech- 
nical Education of the English people," says : — 



INSTETJCTION OF WORKMEN. 171 

*' The two words 'look there,' are often more vahiaMe than an 
hour's lecture. The pupil takes into his mind the form, color, 
meaning, of the thing its9lf, which no words could give him : and, 
in good collections of this sort, the insides of things are shown him 
as clearly as the outsides ; so that the i)upirs knowledge is thorongh, 
instead of merely skin-deep. It should also be remembered that edu- 
cation by the eye is as fertile in fruit as education by the ear ; and 
that merely to familiarize men with the sight of things made as they 
should be is the most effectual teaching to avoid and dislike what 
is inferior or wrong. The material element of teaching is, therefore, 
secondary only in value to the living element." 

UXIVEESAL PRIMARY EDUCATION. 

The French Imperial Commission described in the 
second chapter elicited the following from the editors of 
^'The Journal of Professional Education," as to tlie ele- 
mentary education of artisans : — 

" There is no doubt that one of the first indispensable require- 
ments in children who are to receive a pi-ofessional training is a 
knowledge of the elements of the science, — such as geometry, physics, 
and chemistry, — in a degree adapted to the wants of any special in- 
dustry. For this purpose, schools on the plan of the Turgot School 
should be multiplied in the great manufacturing centimes, Paris, 
Lyons, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille, and Mulhouse. A preliminary 
training of this description is required even by children who are 
destined for the handicrafts. Every manufacturer knows the differ- 
ence between an apprentice who has been thoroughly accustomed to 
scientific definitions, and one who can merely read and write : even 



172 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

in learning the use of tools, the former is twice as quick as the latter 
besides understanding more easily the explanation of the master." 

In their report the French Imperial Commission 
say : — 

" In fact, the failure of the first foundations of this kind at- 
tempted in England, about 1825, under the name of ' Mechanics 
Institutes,' like those which since 1800 have succeeded in Scotland 
under the direction of Dr. Birkbcck, who was their first founder, 
];roves that it is of paramount importance, first of all, to make sure 
that the workmen for whom the lectures are intended have received 
as sound and complete a primary education as possible. Thus 
whilst, in Scotland, the Parochial Schools had spread among all 
classes of the population an amount of instruction about equal to 
that which the French law of 1833 defined as superior pitnary in- 
struction, the day and evening classes of the Mechanics' Institutes 
obtained a complete and almost general success. In England, on 
the conti-ary, the teachers in these institutions had scarcely begun 
to talk of science to the mechanics, when they encountered an 
obstacle which had not been found to exist in Scotland to the same 
extent. The absence of elementary instruction was complete. 
Lord Brougham and h^'s friends were in advance of their age. . . . 
Of these institutions there soon remained nothing but the name and 
the building ; which last was used for other purposes. In most 
cases, it was occupied by a mechanics' or middle-class club, where 
persons who paid a small monthly contribution met to amuse them- 
seh^cs on winter evenings. There was no such thing as teaching." 

In their summary of the inquiry on technical educa- 
tion in G-ermany and Switzerland, the sub-commission 
of the French Imperial Commission speak thus : — 



INSTRUCTION OF WOP.KMEN. 173 

" lu the first place, and almost with one accord, all the persons 
consulted have recognized and insisted on the necessity of a degree 
of general preparatory instruction proportioned to the extent of 
professional or industrial education which is to be its complement ; 
and which is intended to place every individual in a position to fol- 
low with success the career he may have in view, or has already em- 
braced. But at the same time it has been as positively declared by the 
most eminent principals of industrial establishments, that the deplor- 
able and far too general absence of primary instruction among even 
the most intelligent workmen was one of the greatest and most 
lamentable obstacles to the development of their faculties, and the 
progress of industry. . . . 

'■' The course to be followed, and the different means to be em- 
ployed, to improve and extend the education of workingmen already 
engaged in the practice of their trades, have been among the most 
important objects of the inquiry. The difHculties thrown in the 
v.'ay of this kind of instruction by the almost total absence of pri- 
mary education, and especially by the general ignorance of the 
scientific forms of even the simplest reasoning, have been pointed 
out to the commission However, numerous examples tend to 
show, tliat, by combining the study of drawing with the teaching 
peculiar to the diiferent industries, it is not impossible to obtain 
happy results. The man who is in the habit of working any given 
substance, often, indeed, acquires by a sort of intuition a sounder 
and more intimate knowledge of its fundamental properties and 
mechanical effects than he who has limited his studies to the desk." 

In chapter two, reference is made to the report of 
Prof. Leone Levi. He says : — 

" Hitherto, the progress of Britain in industry and manufacture 
15 



174 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

has been achieved by a few leading minds operating with an array 
of laborers wonderfully endowed Aviih physical and moral power 
to overcome tlie greatest resistance, yet singulai-ly deficient in in- 
tellectual power. Incomparably greater would be her progress, 
were science and art more diffused amongst the entire community. 
What is required, therefore, is, first, a more extended and compre- 
hensive system of primary and secondary instruction, well arranged, 
and adapted to tlie requirements of society; and, secondly, the 
diffusion of technical instruction, or instruction in those sciences 
and arts which enter into the different occupations and professions 
of Ir-fe, altogether direct and practical in its teaching, and every- 
where associated with the realities of life." 

Mr. James Hole, honorable secretary of the York- 
shire Union of Mechanics' Institutes, in a letter to Lord 
Bobert Montagu, vice-president of the Committee of 
Council on Education, England, says : — 

" All who have expressed any opinions on this question concur 
in thinking that we must have a much more complete system of 
primary instruction before secondary education can become de- 
veloped and improved to a satisfactory degree. For m<my years 
past, the greater part of the educational work of our mechanics' 
institutions has been to supply the mere elementary education 
that ought to have been acquired in the day school ; and the 
great object for which mechanics' institutions were originally 
established — viz., the technical education now so much talked 
about — has remained almost in total abeyance." 

" In his reply to Lord Stanley, Mr. Lumley encloses 



INSTP.IICTION OF WORKJVIEN. 175 

a report on popular education in Switzerland, wliicli thus 
sj^eaks of primary education : — 

"Instruction in the Swiss primary schools comprises reading and 
writing in the mother-tongue (German, French, or Italian, accord- 
ing to the canton), arithmetic, and the first principles of geometry, 
drawing, singing, Swiss and general history, geography, and the 
elements of natural science. Gymnastics are also being gradually 
introduced ; and female needlework is taught to the girls at fixed 
hours in the girls' and mixed schools." 

Mr. J. Scott Russell, in his work on " The Sj'stematic 
Technical Education of the English People," says : — 

" Unhappily, mechanics, when taught to working-men, is gen- 
erally cither taught superficially, uupliilosophically, or with little 
or no reference to the business of their life. Economy of bodily 
strength, best ways of handling things, best ways of moving things, 
best ways of helping each other, best ways of carrying, lifting, 
shifting things, — these are seldom taught. Some foolish algebraical 
formula, or abstract geometrical diagram, is put before the poor 
mechanic, and called science. As well call it magic. . . . 

"I am hopeless in the matter of educating the ' working-man ' 
who has grown up into manhood without education. For the 
most part, such men are too old to learn. I have never seen, but 
exceptionally, much good come of trying to drive figures and geo- 
metrical problems, and mechanical theorems, and light and shade, 
into the head of a fuU-groAvn workman who had failed to get a good 
education when young. There have been brilliant exceptions — how 
brilliant ! how few ! " 



CHAPTER yj. 



DEAWLS-G. 



The evidence wliich is presented in this chapter, 
coming from many and the most trustworthy sources, 
shows bevond reasonable doubt, that among all the 
branches of instruction, firom the lowest to the highest, 
which can contribute to the technical education of 
either sex, drawing, in its Taried forms and appli- 
cations, is the one most essential to make common. As, 
in teaching other things, somewhat different methods 
are successfully followed, so the evidence shows, as was 
to be expected, that somewhat different methods arc 
success^llj followed in teaching drawrng. AVnile there 
are methods which receive the universal condemna- 
tion of good educators, there are other methods which 
receive their universal approval, though not in the same 
degree. The methods must, of course, vary, more or 
less, according to the age of the pupils, according to the 
circumstances under which the instruction is given, 
176 



DRAWING. 177 

and according to the particular result which it is desired 
to attain. The following points appear to be clearly- 
settled : — 

1. There is such an intimate relation between the 
different departments of drawing and art, while broad 
culture is always so much better than narrow culture, 
that the best results in any one direction can be 
secured only when the instruction is general. To be- 
come a thorough master of any department of drawing 
or art, one needs to be acquainted with all departments. 
Hence the instruction in drawing should be, whenever 
possible, broad, and not simply ppecial, even when 
special results alone are sought. 

2. As it is impossible that every one should be thor- 
oughly instructed in all the departments of drawing, it 
is well, in determining what the public schools should 
attempt, to divide drawing into three general courses : a 
preparatory course, an industrial course, and an artistic 
course. The preparatory course, embracing the elements 
of both industrial and artistic drawing, should be pursued 
by all pupils alike. When this course — whch should be 
quite liberal, extending at least through the grammar 
school — has been finished, those pupils of the high 
school who are to engage in industrial pursuits, but 
have not time to take both the industrial and artistic 
courses; should give special, though not exclusive^ atten- 



178 TECHNICAL EDUCATTOX. 

tion to projection and working drawings. For a similar 
reason, those pupils of the high school who desire to 
obtain a more purely artistic culture will give special 
attention to shading and perspective, to drawing tlie 
human figure, and from nature. As it is not the 
proper business of the public schools to make special- 
ists, the instruction in the industrial course should 
be, in the main, confined to those things which 
the different industries have in common. So, too, the 
instruction in the artistic course should be, in the 
main, confined to those things only which belong alike 
to the different artistic professions. Those things which 
specially belong to any one industr}', or to any one 
department of art, and are therefore of limited use, 
should usually be left to special schools. 

3. In its general character the instruction should be 
rational, not dogmatic ; that is, the pupils should be 
taught the reason for what they do, so that every draw- 
ing, every line they make, will be an expression of 
intelligence. With rare exceptions, the teacher need 
not, and the judicious teacher will not, give j^oung 
pupils things to do which involve principles clearly 
beyond the range of their comprehension. Wlien this 
must be done, then the less said about the principles 
the better: of necessity the instruction must, in such 
case, degenerate into dogmatism. Dogmatic instruction 



DH AWING. 179 

will simply enable tlie pupils to do again what tliey 
have once done, — a thing of great value indeed; but 
rational instruction, giving a mastery of principles, will 
not only enable the pupils to do again what they liave 
once done, but to make new applications of the princi- 
ples learned. It should be the aim to produce work- 
men, designers, artists, who can do something more 
than imitate; who, working in obedience to funda- 
mental principles, can meet the ever-changing require- 
ments of actual life, can give the world original 
creations. Those pupils whose instruction in drawing 
simply enables them to copy have been poorly in- 
structed indeed ; and the instruction will tell adversely 
upon their future careers. 

4. There are two general and very different modes 
which are followed in the execution of drawings. The 
first lays great stress upon fine finish, less upon ex- 
pression ; the lines are drawn with the utmost care from 
the outset; and the shading is elaborately executed 
with a pencil-point. The last lays great stress upon 
expression, less upon fine finish ; the lines are drawn 
boldly from the outset, it being left to time and practice 
to give accuracy ; while the shading is rapidly done with 
the stump. The first, which may be called the English 
method, tends to produce workmen, designers, and 
artists who work slowly, and finish finely, but whose 



180 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

work is lacking in life and character. The second, 
which may be called the French method, gives rapid 
execution, and yields products, which, while oftentimes 
lacking in finish, are always instinct with life and 
character. The preference is given to the latter method 
both for purely artistic and for industrial purposes. 
But evidently the best method must aim to secure both 
finish and expression with celerity of execution. Any 
product which is both well designed and well finished 
must command a better price than if it is only well 
designed or only well finished. 

5. From time to time, teachers should vary somewhat 
their method of instruction. They should accustom 
their pupils to use different materials ; as the black- 
board, which permits such freedom of movement, should 
occasionally take the place of paper. They should nob 
always require their pupils to draw from the flat, nor 
always from objects, nor always from the liunian figure. 
Indeed, the instruction should be judiciously gradu- 
ated, with ever something of varic-ty for the purpose 
both of better pleasing and better disciplining. 

6. After a little preliminary practice in the drawing 
and division of lines, pupils should begin with exercises in 
drawing from flat copies, which should be sjanmetricaily 
regular; that is, geometrical or conventionalized forms, 
without perspective and without shading. These exer- 



DRAWING. 181 

cises should be continued long enough to familiarize 
the learner with pure form ; to familiarize him with the 
leading principles of design, especially as applied to 
textile fabrics and to all flat ornamentation ; to familiar- 
ize him with the different styles of decorative art, 
both ancient and modern. The copies, therefore, 
should be largely historical, and the most beauti- 
ful it is possible to select. When the pupils have thus 
become acquainted with what has been done, and have 
learned the principles according to which it was done, 
they will be prepared not only to reproduce intelli- 
gently, but to originate intelligently: indeed, while 
they are working at their copies, they should be con- 
stantly required to produce new designs, which they 
will be both able and pleased to do, and thus will be- 
come much more than mere copyists. Again : the taste 
of the pupils — especially if " taste is the recollection 
of the beautiful," as it has been defined — must be 
greatly improved by the long study of such beautiful 
forms as the copies will furuish. 

When the pupils have learned to draw regular forms, 
which permit them to verify their work and to deter- 
mine whether their drawings are accurate or not, then, 
and not till then, should they begin to draw irregular 
forms, like those in nature, which do not permit them 
to verify their work and determine whether or not their 
16 



182 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

drawi'.igs are accurate. If the pupils cannot learn to 
draw regular forms accurately, it is absurd to expect 
that they will ever learn to draw accurately forms 
which are irregular. Until they are able to do the 
first with a good degree of success, they should not be 
set about doing the second. The symmetrical should 
therefore precede the unsymmetrical : that which can 
be verified should precede that which cannot be verified. 
A little intermixture, perhaps, of the latter with the for- 
mer, for the sake of variety, may not be objectionable. But 
when it comes to drawing from nature, from unsymmet- 
rical objects, what should be the general character of 
such drawing in the public schools ? As a chief reason 
for putting drawing into the public schools must be in- 
dustrial, it is evident that those natural objects should 
be first taken which have the most to do with practical 
art. It is the vegetable world, not the animal world, 
nor the human figure, from which practical art, both 
ancient and modern, has derived the greater portion of 
its principles and its designs. It is particularly appro- 
priate, therefore, that pupils in the public schools 
should first learn to draw those vegetable forms — leaves, 
flowers, vines — which have contributed so much to 
practical art. Useful as it undoubtedly is, especially 
in the matter of discipline, to draw the human figure, 
yet it is an indirect and laborious way of reaching 



DRAWING. 183 

practical results. Indeed, it may well be questioned 

whether satisfactory results can ever be reached in this 
way alone^ as some have claimed. 

7. Taken at the proper time, but not at the outset, 
it is clear that drawing from geometrical models and 
beautiful artificial objects, from beautiful ornaments in 
relief, and from graceful casts, is of the most unquestion- 
able value, both industrial and purely artistic. The 
2>upils thus learn to represent on paper objects hav- 
ing the three dimensions. For industrial purposes, 
the value consists mainly in disciplining the imagi- 
nation, training the eye, and improving the taste. 
Every artisan should be so thorouglily trained in this 
species of drawing as to be able to see mentally the 
exact form of any object he is required to construct, 
determining at once the direction of each line. If it 
is a beautiful object that is required, he should be able to 
make it, which he can never do unless he is first able to 
discriminate between wliat is, and what is not, beautiful. 
This species of drawing involves somewhat of perspec- 
tive, of light and shade, — things which are indirectly 
of much industrial value, while they lead directly to 
the highest artistic results. 

8. Drawing with instruments, which is almost wholly 
practical in its applications, can and should be taught 
in the public schools. While the great object is to train 



184 TECnXICAL EDUCATION. 

the liand and eje, to teach the principles of design, to 
discipline the judgment and cultivate the taste, by 
freehand drawing, yet the industrial applications of 
drawing, which can only be mastered by the use of 
instruments, are so manj^, and so exceedingly important, 
that the ruler, triangle, compasses, and bow-pen, if noth- 
ing more, should find a place in all public schools 
except the primary. The evidence shows that chil- 
dren from ten to thirteen years of age, if properly 
taught, can be made to comprehend, and to execute with 
instruments, not only linear drawings, based on plane 
geometry, but working-drawings, which involve the 
principles of projection, and are based on descriptive 
geometry. It is very essential that each artisan should 
know enough of the principles of projection to be able 
at least to read the working-drawings which are placed 
in his hand, if he has not skill enough to make such 
drawings. Very few American artisans, whether car- 
penters, ship-builders, masons, machinists, or others, now 
know enough to do tliis ; and so tliey are obliged to 
work under constant supervision, and at reduced wages. 
It is not the business of the common schools to make 
draughtsmen, but to teach all enough of tlie theory 
and applications of projection to meet this universal 
want of artisans. The finished draughtsmen must be 
the product of the special schools. A knowledge of 



DEAWING. 185 

perspective, whicli is the drawing of objects as they 
appear, is most readily obtained after a knowledge of 
projection (orthographic), which is the drawing of 
objects as they are. Even the artist, therefore, is 
served by a knowledge of the general principles 
involved in working-drawings. Again : there is no 
one of either sex who can well afford to dispense 
with the peculiar discipline which is derived from 
instrumental drawing. The use of instruments should 
alternate with freehand practice. 

9. The pupils should not be wholly dependent on the 
teacher for instruction, as some have thought it best 
they should be. Above the primary schools a printed 
text should go with all the copies (whether the copies are 
in books or on charts), and with all models (whether for 
freehand or instrumental practice). This text, carefully 
prepared, will afford a clearer explanation than can usu- 
ally be given off-hand by the teacher ; and, further, the 
pupils can go over it again and again until it is fully 
comprehended. With a text for their guidance, the 
pupils can make much more rapid and more intelligent 
progress than they can possibly make without it ; while 
the labor of the teacher is thereby greatly diminished. 
Even with a good text in the hands of his pupils, the 
teacher will find enougli to do in the teaching of draw- 
ing, as he finds enough to do in teaching arithmetic, his 



186 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

pupils having a book for their guidance. The teacher 
must often give dictation-exercises, that the pupils may 
learn to imagine the form of a drawing from the oral 
description, as, in actual life, they must frequently 
imagine the forms of objects from oral descriptions. 
The pupils having executed the drawings, each according 
to his interpretation of the oral description, the teacher 
then jDlaces tlie drawing on the blackboard, that tlie 
pupils may see whether they interpreted the oral descrip- 
tion correctly. Again : the teacher should often exercise 
the i)upils in reproducing from memory drawings previ- 
ously executed, whether from flat copies or from models. 
But, after making due allowance for all methods and 
devices, the progress of the pupils will be greatly accel- 
erated if each has a text telling how to execute the 
given exercises, and describing the principles of drawing 
and designing. Indeed, it should never be forgotten 
that one of the great objects of early education is to 
teach pupils to use books readily, in order that they may 
continue to advance in their studies after leaving school, 
when they have no teacher to direct, but must rely 
wholly upon books. To-day very few American artisans 
are able to obtain instruction from even the best pre- 
pared book; because they find it so difficult to interpret 
printed language. 

10. Like the flat copies, the models and other objects 



DRAWmG. 187 

placed before tlie pupils should be tlie most beautiful it 
is possible to obtain. Well-appointed museums which 
can be frequently visited by the pupils will greatly aid 
in the development of correct taste. So, too, the taste 
will be decidedly influenced by the architecture which 
comes under the dail}'' observation. 

11. When logical demonstration can be supple- 
mented, as often it may be, by graphic demonstration, 
the understanding of any subject is always rendered 
much easier. For this reason, the power to draw is of 
great service to the teacher, and should be acquired by 
every one who aims to do the best work in the school- 
room. When acquired, it should be frequently used for 
the amusement and instruction of the pupils in various 
branches of study. 

THE FEEXCH IMPERIAL COMMISSION. 

[See Chap 2, for particulars about the French Imperial Commission, 
to whom what follows for a uumher of pages is accredited.] 

In his evidence before the commission, Kev. Father 
Baudine, assistant superior of the Christian Brothers' 
School, says : — 

"A series of drawing copy-books was published in 1860, adapted. 
to popularize the drawing of ornament in all schools, from the 
village school to the middle-class school of large tOAvns. In the 
method adopted in giving this elementary instruction in the draw- 



188 TECnNIGAL EDUCATION. 

ing of ox-nament, care is taken to select copies on good grounds 
only ; that is to say, either on the score of taste or style. Every 
study, every fragment, has a name attached to it, giving the char- 
acter of the style to which it belongs. Thus, after going through 
the course of copy-books, the pupil can easily distinguish between 
Grecian, Roman, Byzantine, Gotliic, Renaissance, &c., orders of 
ornamentation, and is even sufficiently advanced to make an origi- 
nal design belonging to one of those orders. 

"Drawing from the cast, and modelling, naturally follows on that 
of ornament; but the liitle time which the junior pu})ils can devote 
to the subject permits this branch to be carrieJ on only in the adult 
evening classes. To ornamental drawing ought to be added geo- 
metrical drawing; being of much more importance to the working- 
classes. The method adopted in teaching this subject consists in 
hanging up before the class a large sheet, four feet by three, con- 
taining copies of joiner's work, upholstery, carpentry, architecture, 
and machines. The pupils have by them figured sketches of these 
copies so as to be able to reproduce on their books these copies to any 
required scale. By this means, a class of from fifty to sixty, and even 
a hundred, pupils can work at the same subject, and follow the ex- 
planations of the teacher. To facilitate still more the study of this 
subject, and in order that the pupils may have a better knowledge 
of what objects they reproduce, they have set before them solid 
models of the same objects as are on the large sheets, — some in 
wood, others in plaster or cast metal. The models are cut by vertical 
or horizontal planes ; so that the dettiils for the dravnng are better 
understood. To these models others are added to be handled by 
the pupils themselves, that they may make sketches of thcni, 
with diff^erent elevations and plans. By this means it has been 
found possible to make children of from ten to thirteen years under- 
stand the theory of projections." 



DRAWmG. 189 

In his evidence before tlie commission, M. Delahaye, 
director of the Professional School at BatignoUes, mem- 
ber of the Council of Head Masters of the Department 
of the Seine, thus expresses himself: — 

" Great importance is attached to the teaching of drawing, so 
much so, that the boys of seven years old commence to learn draw- 
ing at the same time that they begin to learn to write. A peculiar 
method is adopted in this subject, which might, with advantage, 
be adopted in the primary schools. Paper ruled in squares is used ; 
so that, by the aid merely of the ruler and pen, a child can make 
many different drawings; which, it must be confessed, are not 
very artistic, but which accustom him to neatness, give him a 
notion of symmetry, and educate his taste. When these chil- 
dren come afterwards to the use of the compass and bow-pen, 
and to tint their drawings, their hand is practised, and often very 
skilful." 

In his evidence before the commission, M. Bardin, 
professor of Industrial Drawing to the Communal 
Schools of the City of Paris, says : — 

" All the models that are put before them are accompanied by 
a descriptive text. Each of them comprehends and retains what he 
studies. He can work alone. The professor has only to correct the 
work, or to explain a point which has not been understood at first. 
These models, thus explained, have an immense advantage over an 
engraving which does not even bear an indication of the drawing 
that it represents ; besides which, a text accompanying a drawing 
16* 



190 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

is always more precise than the oral description that the master 
can give to each pupil, and helps to keep alive the remembrance 
of it." 

In his evidence before the commission, M. Lequien, 
director of the Communal School of Drawing in the 
E-ue Menilmontant, Paris, says : — 

"I believe instruction in these subjects (linear and architectural 
drawing) to be indispensable to all engaged in the manufocture of 
furniture. Cabinet-making particularly would derive great benefit, 
both as regards the proportions, elegance, and purity of form, as 
well as regards the harmony of the mouldings, which are often dis- 
proportionate, or of different styles. A piece of furniture, no 
matter what it may be, — whether a cabinet, sideboard, bed, or 
console, — is nothing but an edifice applied to a useful purpose. 
Architectural design should rule the whole as well as the details ; 
and it is from the judicious combinations of these elements, arranged 
with a view to its use, that it derives its merit. Furniture destined 
for repose ought to be of simple construction : the ornaments with 
which it is often overloaded appear to be made rather to hide the 
clumsiness of its form than to embellish it. Ought not the furniture 
of a room to agree both in shape and color with the architecture 1 
It is a whole, each part of which should be in harmony. In this 
last part of the work the architect is often replaced by the paper- 
hanger, who, having no arcliitectural or decorative knowledge, 
allows himself to be guided by the extravagant caprices of fashion 
or by a traditional routine. Again : bronzes, lustres, candelabras, 
cups, and the basement of a clock, may all be considered in relation 
to their architectural fitness. Ceramic art borrows its first and 



DRAWING. 191 

principal value from form. No matter how great the merit of the 
paintings which ornament porcelain, it is the proportion and the 
elegance of the shape which ought to be the first consideration. 
In monumental art, statuary itself is subordinate, in its proportions 
and its effect, to the laws of the science of lines, which ought to pre- 
' vail in every manufacture." 

Ill his evidence before tlie commission, M. Gerar- 
don, founder and director of the Central School at 
Lyons, professor at La Martiniere School, says : — 

" The method by which descriptive geometry is taught is also 
peculiar, and well worthy of notice. For this study each pupil is 
furnished with a small tin box about eight inches long, four inches 
broad, and three-quarters of an inch in depth. This box is filled 
with yellow wax, prepared so as not to turn hard. It represents 
to the pupil the horizontal plane of projection. The edge opposite 
to him is the ground line ; and he can imagine for himself the plane 
of elevation passing through this ground line. Small strips of iron 
wire serve to represent lines in space, the projections on the hori- 
zontal plane by laying them on the box, and those on the plane of 
elevation by fixing them on the edge which represents the ground 
line. The movement of these strips is effected by direction of the 
teacher ; and the pupil is enabled easily to understand a diagram in 
descriptive geometry. 

" Instruction in drawing consists of machine-drawing in perspec- 
tive and projection, as well as of the method of tinting. At first 
the pupil draws on his slate to facilitate cori'ection, and avoid waste 
of paper. The first models which he has to draw from are figures in 
u'on wire, representing cubes, prisms, pyramids, &c. : then he draws 



102 TECHNICAL EDUCATION'. 

parts of machines, and finally complete machines. Afterwards he 
proceeds to drawing projections, first in figured sketches, and then 
in drawings to scale : finally he completes his studies by learning 
to tint. The pupils are arranged in a circle round the model, 
which is placed on a stand in the midst of them. They are seated 
on stools carrying a stage to support the slate or drawing-board. 
There is also a class for modelling and moulding; but it is not 
numerously attended. . . . 

" At the Central School, as at La Martiniere, the pupil, from his 
first entrance, begins to draw in perspective from models : then he 
passes quickly to projection, which is more closely connected with 
the labor of the workshop. As soon as he has acquired sufficient 
skill, the following plan is pursued : A model is placed before twelve 
or fourteen pupils ; the teacher take^ it to pieces before them, ex- 
plains the principal arrangements, draws attention to the different 
forms, and, after having given all necessary explanations, removes 
the model. The pupil must then execute from memory, and with- 
out instruments, sketches of the whole, and of the details and 
sections required by the teacher. When the time fixed for the exe- 
cution of this drawing from memory has elapsed, the model is re- 
placed before the pupils : the teacher points out the corrections to 
be made ; and a pupil placed close to the model takes all the meas- 
urements, and dictates the dimensions. The model is once more 
removed ; and from the sketch the pupil must now make a drawing 
to scale. This kind of work, and a little drawing of ornament, and 
practice in tinting, constitute the study of the fii-st year. During 
the second and third year, the pupils, while continuing from time 
to time the drawing from memory, pass on to another kind of study. 
Drawings of machines are given to them, but not to be servilely 
copied : they are required to draw a section on a line marked on the 



DRAWING. 193 

drawing. In this way the pupil can never copy a drawing without 
understanding it : he must analyze it in all its particulars for him- 
self. To others, again, is given a drawing, — as, for example, of a 
steam-engine, — taken from some work on machinery, together with 
the text which accompanies it. The teacher explains to the pupil 
a certain portion of the machine, — the cylinder, for instance, — with 
the arrangement of its parts : the latter must then dravv every piece 
of it (as if it were taken completely to pieces) to a certain fixed scale. 
When this work is finished, the copy is removed ; and the pupil 
must proceed to draw the whole from the drawings which he has 
already made of the parts. In these two divisions the young men 
are also practised in making designs of parts of machines accord- 
ing to the principles of the strength of materials, which they have 
learned in school; designs for boilers according to the principles 
of physics; designs of machines or of buildings of all kinds, as 
applications of the sciences which they have studied at school. 
As a supplement to the study of drawing, the pupils of the 
second and third years visit, every Thursday, certain manufac- 
tories which are fixed upon, and must bring back figured sketches 
of some of the machines : these they must afterwards reproduce as 
finished drawings to scale. Afterwards, from all these drawings, 
a selection is made of those which possess most interest, or are of 
the greatest utility ; and, these being lithographed, an album is 
made, intended specially for the use of the pupils of the school." 

In his evidence before the commission, M. Malet, 
professor at the Imperial Artillery School at Douai, 
says : — 

" The class in drawing meets every day from half-past twelve to 
two o'clock. Formerly it used to meet from five to seven ; and prob- 
17 



194 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

ably the old arrangement will be resumed, as it had the advantage of 
accustoming the pupils to draw both by artificial light and by day- 
light. The class contains about seventy or eighty pupils, of from 
thirteen to fourteen years of age. As to the method of instruction, 
it is that which is generally adopted : the basis is the study of the 
figure, and effect is obtained by line shading. But this method, 
though good in principle, is, in the opinion of M. Malet, not one 
Avhich is to be recommended for those who are not fine-art students, 
but have need of the power of sketching rapidly and accurately. 
He would wish to see introduced three divisions — one preparatory, 
another industrial, and the third artistic — for the students who wish 
to become artists, and aspire to the Fine Art School (Ecole des 
Beaux Arts}." 

In his evidence before the commission M. Gouin, 
civil engineer, Paris, says : — 

*' Nothing is more difficult to form than a machine designer and 
mechanical engineer. A hundred engineers for making railways can 
be found before one who can mai^e a good machine is discovered. 
To become a good mechanical engineer great patience is required : 
five or six years must be passed in a drawing office, and a year 
or two in making tracings, so as to know a machine as a whole, as 
well as its details, and not to be obliged to have recourse to calcu- 
lation or drawings to know how to trace a piece which has to be 
made. Just as an aitist is not compelled to measure every time 
the proportion of the head to the body to make a correct study of 
the figure, but has it all in his eye, so a machine designer ought to 
have in his head all the relations of the different parts of a machine. 
This knowledge is only acquired after a prolonged examination of 
excellent models." 



DRAWING. 195 

In their elaborate report, based upon their wide in- 
vestigations, the Imperial Commission say : — 

" One immediate conclusion from the facts aboA^e stated is, that 
drawing, in all its applications, may and must be regarded as one 
of tlie simplest and. most direct means which technical education 
can employ; since it renders visible to the eye, and perceptible to 
the mind, most of the propositions of elementary and descriptive 
geometry with their applications, and likewise affords the means of 
submitting to calculation many mechanical phenomena and the jjro- 
portions of the constituent parts of machines. Moreover, in all 
that concerns the art of construction, drawing familiarizes the 
pupil with execution and with the proportions which science or 
practice have sanctioned. 

" All these considerations have led the commission to propose : — 

" 1. That, for the instruction of apprentices and workmen, it is 
advisable to encourage, in preference to purely oral lectures, the 
establishment of regular classes to be held especially on Sundays 
or in the evenings of working-days. 

" 2. That this teaching should not be at all dogmatical, but 
should make it a rule to explain in the simplest possible manner 
the principles of science by the aid of facts, and by showing their 
application. 

" 3. Lastly, that drawing, with all its applications to the diffei'- 
ent industrial arts, should, be considered as the principal means to 
be employed in technical insti-uction. ... 

" Drawing is, in all branches of industrial art, a means so evident, 
so useful, and so indispensable for embodying the conceptions of 
the mind, for studying and fixing the forms to be given to produc- 
tions, for rendering the creative idea, that there can be no need of 



196 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

insisting on the necessity of developing that branch of instruction 
which has for its object the diffusion of such an acquirement among 
artisans of every class. This necessity, which has long been deeply 
felt in France, has led to the multiplication, in the great industrial 
centres, of schools for art and scientific drawing, which, while offer- 
ing to the national taste the means of manifesting itself, have 
hitherto secured to French industry a great superiority in a large 
portion of its manufactures. 

" The Universal Exhibition of 1855, and especially that of Lon- 
don in 1862, have clearly shown the results which England has 
already obtained from the immense efforts — among others the 
establishment of the splendid museum at Kensington — she has 
made, ever since 1852, to deprive France of that superiority in the 
works of industrial art, which the first exhibition of 1852 had proved 
to be indisputable. Soon after this exhibition, the most competent 
judges in Enghmd, far from refusing to acknowledge the pre-emi- 
nence of our artists over theirs, publicly proclaimed it; and, with 
the promptitude and active energy peculiar to their nation, they set 
about diffusing through all classes of society a taste for drawing and 
the arts, not only among working-men and artists, but also among 
the general public. 

" The English Government, abandoning its principle of non- 
intervention in home administration, decided at this period on 
taking up the general organization of art education, and formed 
in the privy council, a new section under the name of ' Science and 
iVrt Department,' especially charged with propagating the study of 
drawing. 

" The institutions dependent on the Science and Art Department 
are divided into two categories : — 

" ' 1. Public Teaching : Schools of art and local associations of pri- 



DEAWING. 197 

mary schools for teaching drawing ; annual inspections of the local 
schools and primary schools combined in associations ; annual local 
competitions ; Central Museum at Kensington ; loans of models and 
books on art from the museum to local schools ; exhibition in the 
localities of the articles thus lent ; pecuniary grants to the local 
schools for purchasing models, and, in certain cases, towards the 
expense of first establishment. 

" ' 2. Training of Art Masters : Examinations of fitness, and 
graduated certificates ; free admission of exhibitioners from the 
schools of art, and of pupil-teachers intended to become art-masters ; 
normal school of art ; certificates of fitness to teach elementary 
drawing, given upon examination to primary school-teachers of 
either sex.' 

"Notwithstanding this organization, which would seem to indi- 
cate that the Art Department has become a sort of vmiversity for 
teaching drawing, acting like the French University for Literature 
and Science, the action of the department is limited to encouraging 
local or private foundations, to directing their efforts, to preparing 
and training capable teachers, and to indicating by general pro- 
grammes the proper course to be followed. 

" The summary programme of the central schools of drawing is 
as follows : — 

"'1. Elementary Course: Geometrical drawing, linear perspec- 
tive, free-hand drawing with shading, drawing from reliefs, 
figure-drawing fi'om lithographed or engraved models, principle 
of water-color drawing. 

" ' 2. Superior Course : Drawing from relief, painting, ornaments, 
flowers, still life; landscape. 

" ' 3. Special or Technical Course : Art anatomy, elementary com- 
position, designing, modelling, architectural and machine drawing.' 
17* 



198 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

"MM. Marguerin and Mothere's remarkable report, from 
which we have copied tlie above, contains very complete informa- 
tion respecting all this organization, which, in 1861, taught draw- 
ing to 91,836 pupils, more or less advanced. 

"Everybodv knows the magnificent Art Museum at South Ken- 
sington, for the founding of which the Science and Art Department 
has collected from all quarters masterpieces of every kind, at a 
total expense to the State of not less than a million pounds sterling 
since 1852. Besides this outlay for first establishment, the Art De- 
partment has a yearly grant of eighty thousand pounds sterling. 

" By the extent of the resources placed at the disposal of this 
special and new department, created for the purpose of enabling 
English industry to compete with ours, an opinion may be formed 
of the importance rightly attributed in England to the participation 
of the art of design in all industrial productions. . . . 

" Enghmd is not the only rival of French industry which has 
recognized its superiority with regard to works which require the 
aid of art and taste. Germany, moved by the same sentiment, has 
organized, since 1852, at less cost, but perhaps with as much success, 
drawing-schools of different degrees. In all the practical schools 
and in the polytechnic institutions, the teaching of drawing holds 
a prominent place. ... 

" The drawing-school which is justly regarded as the best in 
Central Germany is that of Nuremberg, the director of which has 
laid down the principle, that, to become a skilful industrial artist, 
it is indispensable first to study art in all its varieties. Under his 
energetic supervision a great number of professors and artists have 
been trained, who have disseminated good methods, and have 
brought about in the productions of industry, especially in those 
of Nuremberg, a most remarkable artistic improvement. . . . 



DRAWING. 199 

" If the teaching of the art of drawing, considered as a whole, 
and with its principal varieties, should be regarded from a generally 
elevated point of view, even when the sole object is its application 
to the works of industry, it is advisable that the pupils should suc- 
cessively cultivate the higher branches, — the human figure, archi- 
tecture, ornament, modelling, and sculpture on wood and stone; 
so that one and the same composition or subject may be conceived, 
treated, and executed by the same artist. To provide against the prin- 
cipal idea of a work being either weakened or entirely lost, the artist 
should be so far instructed in the different branches as not to be 
obliged, as some historical painters have been in times past, to get 
the architecture of their buildings drawn by one assistant, the land- 
scape by a second, and sometimes the horses by a third. The his- 
tory of the art and of the styles which have prevailed, and characterize 
the productions of different epochs, ought also to be the object of 
seriovxs study ; so that the artist may not be in danger of jumbling 
together in the same production the forms and ornaments belong- 
ing to very different periods and styles, as was the case with many 
of the English exhibitors in 1862. On this account, the demand for 
the founding of a superior school of industrial art, made in 1850 by 
the leading Parisian artists, appears to be well founded. 

" Besides the study of artistic drawing, properly so called, that 
of linear draAving, based on geometrical principles, has also been 
widely extended in Germany. Descriptive geometry is taught ele- 
mentarily, and with entirely practical applications, in the drawing- 
classes opened for artisans : there they also acquire the theory of 
projections. . . . 

" Independently of the question of taste and art, which is of such 
vital importance for a great number of the higher branches of 
French industry, there is also a necessity, as many of the members 



200 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

of the coramission have remarked, for introducing first into tho 
primary schools, then into the technical classes of all kinds, the 
teaching and practice of geometrical drawing. This subject 
presents for the instruction of artisans the twofold advantage of 
gi^'ing the exact representation of the forms and proportions of 
objects, and the not less important one of supplying with the aid 
of models and simple apparatus, in a great number of cases, a direct 
means of demonstration. From this point of view, the teaching 
of geometrical drawing may be considered as a most effective aux- 
iliary means in the method adopted for the technical instruction 
of workmen. Convinced of this truth, the commission expressed 
the following opinion : — 

" ' The commission attaches great importance to extending the 
teaching of geometrical drawing as well in primary schools as in 
establishments devoted to technical instruction. It regards geomet>- 
rical drawing as a most useful training for the practice of various 
trades, and as an excellent means of direct demonstration.' " 

The English editor of the report^ as printed by the 
English Government, adds a note to the following 
effect : — 

" It may be remarked, however, that, in instruction in linear and 
machine drawing, we are much behind the countries of the Conti- 
nent. It is not unusual to find in the drawing-offices of our great 
machine-works foreign draughtsmen. One of the reasons for this, 
no doubt, is the smaller rate of wages at which they can be 
obtained ; but it seems, also, that tbe special instruction they have 
received in really scientific drawing gives them great advantage over 
the English draughtsman, who has studied his art only by rule of 



DEAWING. 201 

thumb. A reference to the table of the attendance at the govern- 
ment science classes will show, that, since the year 1864, the number 
of students attending the three drawing subjects — practical and 
descriptive georaetrj'-, machine construction and drawing, and build- 
ing construction and drawing — has steadily and considerably in- 
creased. When practically and scientifically taught, the subject 
of descriptive geometry takes the place of mathematics in the tech- 
nical training of those, who, from their limited elementary education, 
cannot appi-eciate the value of rigid mathematical proof, nor com- 
prehend the use of formulis." 

The sub-commission of the French Imperial Com- 
mission, appointed to inquire into the state of teclmical 
instruction in Germany and Switzerland, say in their 
general report : — 

" "We may add as a general fact, that, in all kinds of technical 
instruction whatever, freehand and linear draAving rightly hold a 
prominent place ; that they serve as a means of teaching by afford- 
ing ocular demonstration of many matters which could scarcely be 
well understood by merely mental effort. As for the methods fol- 
lowed for this special teaching, that which — without exception, from 
the high school of Nuremberg to the humblest village classes in 
Wurtemberg — has always and everywhere been most successful is 
the one proposed by the late M. Dupuis, which has been too much 
neglected in France. It consists, as everybody knows, in making 
the pupils, either at the very outset, or after a few attempts at copy- 
ing model drawings ("to give freedom to the band, and accustom it 
to act in accord with the eye), draw from subjects in relief: at first 
very simple, then combined and varied in position ; rising gradually 



202 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

from subjects of ornaments in relief to drawing from the round or 
from nature. With a few unimportant modifications, this system is 
found in nearly all the schools of Germany. Persuaded as we are that 
one of the first and most important measures to be taken in organ- 
izing industrial education consists in teaching everywhere the art 
of drawing, we feel bound at once to call attention to the choice of 
this method." 

In their special report on Austria, tlie sub-commis- 
sion say : — 

"Drawing is taught in the earliest classes from models in relief; 
and no copj'ing is allowed, except for the purpose of teaching pupils 
to handle the pencil at the very outset. In the first year, the pupils of 
the first class, eleven years of age, practise freehand and elementary 
geometrical drawing, and make sketches of solid bodies and of geo- 
metrical forms, after models like those used in the Dupuis method. 
The use of rule and compasses is not permitted. They thus con- 
tinue freehand drawings of ornaments from casts, make copies of 
heads, and finish by drawing from the round. In the third class, 
which contains pupils from thirteen to fifteen years of age, drawing 
receives considerable extension, especially with regard to its appli- 
cation to the practice of the trades the pupils intend to follow. 
With this view, special care is taken to make each pupil execute 
the designs which are most likely to be useful to him. For teaching 
descriptive geometry, much use is made of rectangular planes and 
pins, which render sensible to the eye all the rules of the projec- 
tions. This, in fact, is the mode of teaching which has been pro- 
posed and emjDloyed by M. Olivier, professor at the Conservatory 
of Arts and Trades. His appai-atus consists of two wooden planes 



DEAWING. 203 

articulated witli hinges, and covered with cork, in which the pins 
are stuck to represent the lines of projection. 

" The choice and number of the subjects treated in the three- 
years' studies are such that the young men who intend to follow 
the practical industries of constructing buildings or machines may 
obtain in the lower practical schools sufficient instruction to become 
master-builders, capable of understanding the plans to be executed, 
and of representing their own ideas in drawings. These lower 
schools are, therefore, well adapted for giving the pupils the theo- 
retical instruction calculated to make them clever master-workmen, 
foremen, and conductors of woi'ks, when they shall have acquired 
the practical part of their trades in workshops and building-yards. 
The pupils who wish to continue their studies pass on to the fourth, 
fifth, and sixth classes, in which the teaching of drawing is at once 
theoretical and practical. . . . 

" Of all the practical schools in Germany, that of Prague is cer- 
tainly the one where linear drawing is best taught; and we are 
inclined to attribute this fact to the attention given from the very 
outset to the practice of freehand drawing, which early habituates 
the pupil to trace his lines with a light hand." 

In their special report on Bavaria, the sub-commis- 
sion say of Nuremberg : — 

" In this town, so noted for its various manufactures, there are 
several drawing-schools of different degrees, according to the trade 
the pupils intend to follow. The first and most important is the 
higher school of industrial drawing conducted by M. Kroling. It 
is justly regarded in Germany as the one which has rendered most 
service to industry. In order that the pupils may, in a few years. 



£04 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

acquire some real skill, none are admitted but those who have 
already attained considerable proficiency. The principle adopted 
by the professor of this school is, that, in order to form good in- 
dustrial draughtsmen, the pupils must pass through ail the degrees 
of artistic drawing ; so that they may be able, in the very varied and 
different combinations required by manufacturers, to blend judi- 
ciously and harmoniously all the various kinds, without there being 
any necessity, as too often happens, for having recourse to one artist 
for the architectural part, to another for the figures, and to a third 
for the ornaments, &c. 

"As for the method of teaching, it is exclusively based on draw- 
ing from models in relief, graduated according to the proficiency 
of the learners, and advancing from the simplest models to the 
finest left by ancient art, and then to natui-e. The talented director 
expresses his antipathy to copying from lithographs, which he 
regards as caligraphy, not drawing. In accordance with these 
principles, he has formed for his pupils very fine and very complete 
collections of models. The teaching is distributed in three divis- 
ions : 1. Drawing of ornament; 2. Drawing from the antique; 
3. Drawing from nature. After attaining proficiency in drawing, 
the pupils pass on to modelling and sculpture in wood and stone : 
then, as soon as they have attained a certain degree of skill, they 
have to compose designs, and to model and carve them. 

" The general opinion of the persons who have made a study of 
questions connected with teaching, not only in Bavaria, but also 
in other parts of Germany, is, that the Nuremberg school has con- 
tributed more than any other to the progress of the national in- 
dustiy. This progress is especially manifest in the very decided 
improvement in the manufacture of children's toys, which are one 
of the staple productions of the country. For some years past, the 



DRAWING. 205 

improvement in the forms of the articles, whether moulded in clay, 
or sculptured in wood, with which the Nuremberg manufacturers 
supply the shops of Paris, has shown us that great progress must 
have been made in the teaching of drawing ; and ample confirmation 
of this opinion may be obtained on visiting the higher drawing- 
schools of this town. The Parisian manufacturers, though superior 
in other matters dependent on the arts of design, are, with regard 
to children's toys, very inferior to the Nuremberg artisans. 

" As a preparation for the higher drawing-school, there is an 
elementary school, with courses occupying two years. The first, 
of eight hours per week, is entirely devoted to freehand draw- 
ing, beginning with exercises on straight lines and curves, on plane 
surfaces, on symmetrical and regular bodies, and on simplex and 
complex ornaments, finishing with compositions. The second 
course, of six hours per week, is devoted to drawing ornaments, 
to drawing from the round, from the antique, and also to drawing 
furniture." 

In their special report on Wurtemberg, tlie sub-com- 
mission say : — 

" One of the most remarkable features in the primary schools 
of Wurtemberg is the extraordinary attention paid to the teaching 
of drawing. The Department of Trade and Manufactures has per- 
suaded the Ministry of Public Instruction and Worship to add 
classes for industrial drawing to all these schools ; and the ministry 
has had the wisdom to leave to that department the care of organ- 
izing and superintending their progTess. They were founded, aftei 
the Universal Exhibition of 1851, to enable the manufacturers of 
the country to compete with France in the industrial arts. These 
18 



206 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

schools were at first gratuitous ; but experience proved that at- 
tendance was better secured by requiring a small payment, varying, 
according to the means of parents, from half a florin to twelve 
florins a year. 

" The teachers are, as far as possible, chosen from among the 
workmen or masters of the chief industries of the place, who, hav- 
ing been taught in the same schools, have there acquired the 
requisite knowledge. But these workmen thus made teachers do not 
abandon their trades, and receive only an indemnity of about two 
florins per hour's lesson. They generally give three a week, of two 
hours each, — from seven to nine o'clock in the evening. At Geiss- 
lingen, for instance, there is a school where a hundred and eighty 
scholars are taught by a master mason. In more than one parisli 
the heads of establishments have so well a]Dpreciated the importance 
of this instruction, that they themselves send their young work- 
men and apprentices to the schools. It has been remarked that 
artists of considerable talent have not succeeded so well as masters, 
as mere artisans ; which proves that there would not be so much 
difficulty as is supposed in expeditiously training teachers for this 
kind of schools. 

" The Department of Trade has adopted examples to be used in 
all these schools, of which the first series, intended for beginners, 
consists of lithographs, easy, and few in number, merely for prac- 
tice, — to give freedom to the hand while accustoming the pupil to 
guide it by the eye. The next step for the pupils is to draw from 
plaster models, graduated from the most simple figures to the finest 
casts from the antique, which are reserved for the principal schools. 
These models are supplied by an artist of Stuttgart, according to a 
tariff approved by the Department of Trade. They are delivered 
by him to the parish schools, which pay for them ; but, at the end 



DRAWING. 207 

of the year, the department pays back to the schools one half the 
sum so disbursed. Besides these models in relief, the Department 
of Trade has formed a collection of the best publications on 
industrial art, from the most costly to the humblest albums of 
furniture, cabinet-work, bronzes, &c. It distributes these works 
throughout the countiy, lending them to the masters of the schools 
for a certain period, — usually one month. They must be returned 
in fair condition ; and any damage suffered must be made good. 

" Every other year, the schools send to Stuttgart a collection 
of their drawings of all kinds for exhibition ; after which prizes are 
given to those which sent the finest productions. The masters 
themselves are invited to attend this exhibition, and to control the 
awards made. From among the most skilful masters a certain 
number are chosen, who during the vacation, or at other times, go 
round to the schools as occasional inspectors, and suggest improve- 
ments to the masters ; sometimes even giving them private lessons. 

"Drawing also forms part of the instruction given in the normal 
school for primary teachers ; so that they may be able thereafter to 
teach their pupils the first elements. A few of the pupils who have 
shown most skill and taste are sent to the Superior Art School at 
Nuremberg. 

" Thus there have been established in the kingdom of Wurtem- 
berg more than four hundred drawing-schools ; and this organiza- 
tion, which does not date back more than ten years, has already led 
to very decided improvements in the manufactures of the country, 

" It is satisfactory to know that the designers trained in these 
schools, if they evince any considerable degree of taste and inven- 
tion, easily find occupation in their o\vn country. The more dis- 
tinguished among them are sometimes sent to France for improve- 
ment. Great emulation exists among the teachers and professors 



208 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

of drawing; and, besides the biennial exhibitions made by order of 
the government, an association has been formed by the masters, which, 
aided by vohmtary contributions, has raised a fund for the purpose 
of organizing regular exhibitions of all the pupils' drawings, and 
for awarding prizes." 

The Imperial Commission, in tlieir summary of the 
Inquiry on Professional Education, say : — 

" Among all the branches of instruction, which in different 
degrees, from the highest to the lowest gi'ade, can contribute to the 
technical education of either sex, drawing, in all its forms and appli- 
cations, has been almost unanimously regarded as the one which it is most 
important to make common." 



[See Chap. n. for the particulars ahout Lord Stanley's circular letter.] 

Mr. Ward, answering from Hamburg (Grerraany), 
says, giving the director of the Hamburg Trade Scliool 
as authority : — 

" Free drawing without instruments begins with drawing from 
wooden models, according to Heimerdinger's method, in which 
simple objects, such as tools used by joiners, engineers, &C., are 
included ; attention being paid to the vocation of the pupil in the 
choice of the models. Ornamental drawing from plaster casts, in 
outline, and in respect to shading, then follows. Those pupils who 
devote themselves to building or ornamental trades study the figure 
from casts and anatomy. The metal-workers draw freely, without 
instruments, portions of machinery, &c. The mode of execution 



DEAWING. 209 

(which is with lead-pencil, pen, brush, and rubber) is always the most 
suitable to the branch of technical art to which the pupil intends to 
devote himself. In close connection with this style of drawing are 
the exercises in ornamental design. Plants, flowers, and leaves 
are drawn from life ; and these drawings are used in designing. By 
these exercises the pupils become very soon independent of all help. 
Geometrical drawings are executed from large copies. The 
teachers explain the perfect principles of construction, and pay 
special attention to exactness in execution. When the pupil has 
acquired confidence in the use of his instruments, and has mastered 
the essential pi'inciples, the measuring and drawing of some simple 
and more complicated bodies follows. This class is attended by 
metal-workers, joiners, builders and carpenters, carriage-builders, 
ship-builders, &c. The instruction is imparted by measuring and 
drawing real objects, such as parts of machinery, tools, furniture, 
doors, windows, carriages, &c., according to fixed rules and speci- 
fied plans. 

" Instruction in freehand drawing can only be of use to the 
pupils when they use real objects, and not drawings. By the 
method pursued here, the hand needs no particular preparation, 
because the nearest model ofi:ers an example by which the hand and 
eye are both alike exercised. iMo particular introduction to the 
rules of perspective is needed. The scholar learns to see correctly ; 
and his attention is directed to the principles of perspective by the 
teacher. 

" From the specimens of freehand drawing which were exhibited 
at Paris this year, it would appear that no method can compare with 
that here referred to, for producing a satisfactory result in a short 
time. The results of several other industrial schools are in this 
respect far behind those of the Hamburg School. Drawing from 
18* 



210 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

specimens should be entirely avoided in industrial schools, in free- 
hand as well us in geometrical and technical drawing. . . . 

" In all these trade schools (at Frankfort-on-the-Main) the greatest 
value is always placed upon the instruction in drawing. Freehand 
drawing is begun from the flat, and goes on, as soon as possible, to 
drawing from the round and from plaster casts ; in which particular 
regard is paid to ornament. Even with the more advanced pupils, 
less regard is paid to shading and the formation of shadows than 
to the outline. Only the best pupils are occasionally allowed to 
undertake shading, and then only with the stump. 

" Linear drawing is, as a rule, begun with the construction of geo- 
metric figures, by which the pupil is practised in the use of the rule, 
the compass, and the drawing-pen : he then proceeds to the copying 
of simple implements, to which succeeds drawing from wooden 
models, and, lastly, exercises in construction. 

" The descriptive geometry as taught at Stuttgart and Nurem- 
berg is very profitable for various trades, — such as workers in tin, 
bookbinders, &c., — as the pupils are taught the drawing of network, 
the intersection of plane surfaces, &c. With linear drawing it 
might be advisable, as far as possible, to divide it according to in- 
dustries, especially in the higher branches." 

From Paris Lord Lyons sends, among other things, 
the methods prescribed by the government for instruc- 
tion in the special schools. With reference to descriptive 
geometry, which is the basis of so much mechanical 
drawing, it is directed : — 

"Many pupils find it difficult to represent to themselves the 
geometric figures in space, to read in space, as it is called : never 



DRAWING. 211 

the! ess, to read in space is an indispensable faculty for artisans and 
other persons following industrial pursuits ; and every effort must 
be made to develop it in the pupils of the special schools. The 
teachers of descriptive geometry should, therefore, make use of the 
planes with turning joints, and the stems furnished with points, 
which are used in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in order to 
represent straight lines and planes, and to render palpable their 
various respective positions. The pupils — being provided with 
similar apparatus, but on a smaller scale — should themselves realize 
the figures proposed. When all the pupils have finished their con- 
structions, the professor should exhibit his from every point of view, 
in order to accustom the eyes of the pupils to the different aspects 
under which it may appear : finally, suppressing lines and jDlanes, 
he should draw on the board the material figure which he has just 
constructed, after having assured himself that all the pupils have 
read correctly in space, and have understood the relations of the 
lines and the planes. The instruction given in this way is slower ; 
but it keeps alive the attention of the young people. The method 
is, besides, indispensable for many of them. The success of the 
pupils in the study of projections, perspective, and cosmography, 
and as regards the works which they will one day have to under- 
take, depends entirely on their perfect understanding of this first 
part of the course ; which is, as it were, the alphabet of a more com- 
plex kind of reading. 

"It is well known that the data of a practical geometrical 
question are essentially numerical : thus a point is given by the 
distances of the two planes of projection, measured and expressed 
in metres and centimetres ; a straight line, by two of its numbered 
points, and, frequently, by a point and the angles Avhich the straight 
line makes with the planes of projection, &c. The pupils should, 



212 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

therefore, be early exercised in constructing on some given scale 
the data of the question proposed. The amplifications, the reductions, 
the changes of scale, ought to be rendered familiar to them by 
numerous examples. Every problem in the theory has its corre- 
spondent in numerical data; and all the plans are executed on a 
given scale. Furthermore, as the instruction is addressed to young 
people, who, as yet, are little accustomed to abstract considerations, 
their eyes ought to be constantly appealed to in aid of their under- 
standing. The professor should, therefore, propose numerous ex- 
amples in support of the principles propounded ; and the objects 
in relief should be placed before the pupils. The representation 
of bodies should be much dwelt upon. The proposed exercises ai-e, 
in the first place, useful in themselves, because they give to the 
pupils their first notions of frame-work (charpente) ; but the exercises 
are more especially beneficial by giving the pupils the habit of read- 
ing the language of projections, and of figuring to themselves 
objects in space. Lastly, every opportunity should be seized for 
representing simple applications to stone-cutting and the determi- 
nation of shadows : — 

" Representation of a point and a straight line to trace the pro- 
jection of a cube, a piism, a pyramid ; some simple joinings of 
timber-work, such as joining with mortise and tenons, &c. ; pro- 
jections of a pair of principals ; representation of a plane, straight 
lines [droites), and perpendicular planes ; method of rabbeting(?-a6a«e- 
ments), angle of two straights ; angles of two planes ; rotatory move- 
ment round a vertical axis ; applications ; intersections of a sphere 
and a plane ; curve of contact of a sphere with a circumscribed 
cylinder," &c. 



DRAWING. 213 

TESTIMONY OF ENGLISH ARTISANS. 

[See Chap. n. for particulars about the report of the English artisans 
who were sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1867.] 

Benjamin Lucraft, cliair-maker, says : — 

" Having on other occasions, when in Paris, observed that lads 
of fourteen or fifteen years of age were intrusted with superior 
work to that of our lads in London, I determined to make the 
subject one of special inquiry; and, while visiting one of the fac- 
tories already named, a good opportunity offered. Seeing some 
lads at work with the men in the carvers' shop, I went to the bench 
of one about fourteen. He was carving a chair-back of a mediaeval 
pattern, from a working-drawing : it was nearly finished, and well 
carved. Finding, from inquiry, that he had done the whole him- 
self, I expressed my surprise that one so young was found capable 
of carving so well, and was informed that boys at school are 
specially prepared for the trade they fancy, or that their friends 
have decided upon for them ; so that a boy about to be apprenticed 
to learn carving is instructed in ornamental drawing, modelling, 
and designing." 

Erancis Kirclioif, glass-painter, reports : — 

" The French work, when compared with the English, shows a 
greater diversity of design in construction, and more freedom and 
grace in the drawing of the ornament ; but, in excellence of color 
and pleasing harmony, the English glass is much superior." 

In liis report, James Mackie^ wood-carver, says : — 
" I visited the Ecole Imp€riale Speciale pour I 'Application des 



214 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

Beaux Arts a l' Industrie. On that occasion there was an exhi- 
bition of the works of tlic students ; and the number and variety 
were considerable and interesting. Conspicuous among the ex- 
hibits were some large models in clay. The minister of instruction 
had dictated the subject ; and the following were the particulars 
given : A somewhat large tympanum of a ])ediraent, to have the 
head of a bull for the centre, resting upon a shield, with accessories 
of boys, and festoons of fruit and flowers. The best was a very 
successful interpretation of the order given. A vase, intended to be 
executed in silver, was also modelled according to instructions. 
There were several competitors in each case. 'Ihese studies were 
little more than good sketches in clay ; but it was evident that the 
students were learning a most useful lesson, that would stand them 
in good service when they went forth into the world. There were 
the usual school studies, both in clay modelling and drawing, or 
rather superior sketching ; the pi'cttiness and high finish aimed at 
in the English schools being left alone. There were copies of casts 
of figures and ornament, drawings of natural leaves and flowers, 
sketches (from memory) of well-known works, original designs, and 
sketches done in a given time. All of them were interesting, and 
indicated great industry and a promise of excellence. It seemed 
abundantly clear that the system pursued was simple and rapid, 
and that the teaching and practice produced valuable results. It 
seems to have great vitality ; never being without deep and varied 
interest to the students, — featm-es that should distinguish every 
school, and without which they will assuredly fail in accomplishirig 
the objects sought to be attained. This system of being content 
with good sketching in all branches of instruction in art seems to 
be the life and soul of art as applied to maufactures. Good sketch- 
ing is acquired; and, as few will require to gain a subsistence by 



DRAWING. 215 

making finished pictures, a valuable and sufficient power is gained 
that is always in great request, and is never lost. 

" A visit to the exliibition of the works of the students of the 
Ecole Imperiale Speciale de Dessin pour les Jeunes Personnes 
showed that the young ladies practised the same system with very 
profitable results, although in a less degree. Their studies partook 
largely of pen-and-ink drawings, with a view to the practice of the 
art of wood-engraving." 

E/. Baker, woocl-caryer, reports : — 

" A knowledge of drawing being essential to a good carver, the 
schools of design in Paris are more numerous, and easier of access, 
than in London. Their system of teaching is superior for practical 
purposes to our own : it gives a better general idea of the object 
designed. Instead of exact outline, and a slow and tedious process 
of shading, they time their pupils, allow them more latitude, and 
get a better general resemblance of the object copied. Apprentices 
generally attend these schools in the evening. At the age of 
thirteen or fourteen, boys are apprenticed, sffiwing three to five years, 
and are remunerated in proportion to what they earn. This 
encourages quickness. Being free at the age of seventeen or 
eighteen, they change their workshops, and gain experience, at the 
age when the mind is best suited for receiving instruction. At 
twenty-one he is already an experienced workman, just when our 
apprentices are merging from their semi-torpid existence." 

William Letlieren, art-metal workman, says : — 

" The skill of the smith is displayed in uniting the parts of a 
piece of iron-work, so that the different leaves and other parts, 
when completed, form a whole, blending one with the other. Then 



216 TECHXIC.U. EDUCATION. 

we get use, durability, and ornament combined. This the older 
smiths made their study ; and it should be our aim to excel them. 
In this class of work, the workman must not only he practical, but 
have a knowledge of design and drawing. In this, as sc rule, the 
English workmen are behind : for we may find many a good smith ; 
but, having no knowledge of drawing, he only destroys the good 
effect intended by the designer. 

" I think the schools of art have done much toward the improve- 
ment of the mechanic; but few avail themselves of the opportuuity. 
The French have an advantage in this respect ; the master of an 
apprentice is bound by law to give him two hours a day for c^u- 
catioa : and the class of schools formed for such have a peculiar 
advantage, inasmuch as the artisan is invited to bring specimens 
of work of whatever kind ; and prizes are awarded, at certain times, 
to those that excel. In this respect the French are far before the 
English." 

In Ills special report on the condition and habits of 
the French worlring-cl asses, Richard Whiteing say.s : — 

" We are convinced a course of systematic instruction in the 
principles of design, and the nature of materials, is what is most 
needed in our art schools at the present day. It is not enough to 
give men the best examples to copy, the best materials to use: the 
greatest care should be taken to explain to them why those 
examples and those materials are considered the best ; to show them 
that beauty in the wrong place becomes deformity ; and how 
narrow is the boundary line, which in art, as indeed in every field 
of human endeavor, separates the sublime from the ridiculous. All, 
or nearly all, the faults which in the past were charged against 



DEAWING. 217 

English design, were mainly traceable to the causes we have pointed 
out. It was not denied that there was beauty here and there in 
our houses, our furniture, our dress ; but what was complained of 
was, that those beauties were mostly chosen without any perception 
of harmony in their relation the one to the other. They were 
exotics from many climes, loosely jumbled together, each neutral- 
izing- the effect of the other. Since the establishment of art schools 
in this country, we have made a much nearer approach to congruity 
of ornament ; but much yet remains to be done : whereas, in the 
earliest examples of French manufacture, there is always visible a 
certain sense of the becoming, a certain harmony of parts, and sub- 
jugation of details to one leading idea, — a false one it may be, but 
still having a distinct individuality of its own. The word ' style' is 
always on the French workman's lips ; and its claims are no less 
rigorously enforced in the inferior products of the industry of our 
neighbors than in their highest efforts in literature and in art." 

James Taylor, practical foreman of gas-fittings manu- 
factory, Birmingham, says : — 

" With respect to education, I did not have an opportunity to 
notice much more than that the workpeople generally are much 
better up in fine arts than our people. This I think a great failing 
with the English, — that they are not sufficiently educated in draw- 
ing and the fine arts. I think, unless there is something done in 
this direction, that we shall not retain the supremacy we now hold 
with respect to the chandelier trade. France has made such prog- 
ress in the trade these last few years, that, unless something is 
done in that dii'ection, we shall not be able to keep pace with 
the French." 

19 



218 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

William Gorman, brass-founder, says : — 

" Takiag our own productions in this branch generally, our 
great deficiency is in design, in which we are surpassed by most 
of the nations on tiie Continent : and the deficiency is not confined 
to ornamental articles ; for the plain are frequently very bad in 
form. I b:liove one great cause of this defect to be the custom 
which generally prevails of employing the workman to make his 
own patterns. If we are to maintain our position, we must pay 
more attention to form and design, and encourage education in this 
important direction." 

James Plampin, working-jeweller, reports : — 

" Their superiority is in taste ; and taste is essentially a matter 
of education. Owing to the exicnt of this kind of education, the 
taste of the whole nation is higher than that of the English. While, 
perhaps, there are scarcely more than four out of two hundred 
English jewellers that can draw, from inquiries made there are 
scarcely four out of two hundred in France who cannot. Nor is 
this surprising, when we learn that drawing is regarded and taught 
more as an essential than as an accomplishment. As children, 
they are taught at the day-school, and that not occasionally, but 
as part of the usual routine." 

Frank J. JacksoQ, designer and art teacher from 
Birmingliam, says, in his report of the Paris Ex- 
hibition : — 

" One noticeable feature in French industry is the universal 
application of art, no object beino- too mean for adornment ; and 



DRAWING. 219 

every article capable of being turned into a thing of beauty receives 
its share of attention at the hands of the artist. To such an extent 
is this love of art carried, that mere mechanical finish is sacrificed 
at the shrine of beauty ; and we find that the very things we pride 
ourselves upon, and boast of achieving, are by them set at nought 
in favor of aiming at a higher quality. In England I find tlie 
matter is entirely different. Where there is an attempt to develop 
a better style of art, it is almost sure to be of a special and re- 
strictive character; and it invariably occurs that tlie same house 
that will produce rare and costly works fails to devote that 
attention to ordinary wares, so as to raise their artistic character ; 
being content with ugliness, so long as the objects are perfect in 
polish, and have passed through the routine of processes that are 
ever dear to the mechanical mind. Again : the vitality of French 
art is very remarkable. In their search after novelty, they show 
a wholesome disregard for that which has gone before, and strike 
out with an amount of artistic daring that is startling, yet, never- 
theless, governed by such taste, that their very extravagances pass 
unchallenged, and surprise us into admiration. Their treatment 
of the human figure is, perhaps, of a more daring character than 
even their use of ornament, both of which are rendered with great 
warmth and brilliancy, — qualities which are never neglected, what- 
ever style of decoration they may adopt. For example, the style 
now so much in use is the Greek ; but instead of its being the cold, 
severe style of the past, in their hands it becomes revivified, rivalling 
their favorite renaissance, and earning the name justly bestowed 
of 'Neo Grec' . . . 

"The facilities for French students of industrial art ai-e very 
great. Besides the ordinary academies, they have what are called 
* technical schools,' where, in the same institution, drawing is taught. 



220 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

in which a knowledi^e of a trade to which art is to be applied can 
also be acquired, the fees for which are almost nominal. This class 
of school is, I think, of the utmost value, and clearlj demonstrates 
that the French do really possess ' schools of practical art.' The 
system of drawing pursued, as fiir as I could jadge from an exami- 
nation of many folios of drawings shown in the Exhibition, is very 
excellent. There seems to be no over-anxiety for fineness of out- 
line ; while in shading, the readiest method is generally adopted, 
more importance being attached to the realization of form, and less 
to mere manipulation. Great stress also seems to be laid upon 
drawing from the human figure, and flowers from nature. Most 
of the specimens I saw were very spiritedly executed, but scarcely 
up to the English notion of neatness. The method of teaching 
carried on in our government schools offers a marked contrast to 
that of the French. Examine the drawings that are occasionally 
exhibited, and it will be found that an immense amount of labor 
is spent npon fineness of line and mechanical finish. In this 
respect, I think we are decidedly in error ; in fact, we begin at the 
wrong end. Fineness and neatness of line are the results of mach 
practice, and in early training are of much less importance than 
the acquisition of correct notions of size, proportions, and forms : 
to insist too strongly on the former is to jeopardize the realization 
of the latter. Again : I do not think we have sufficient drawing 
from nature, from the human figure, or flowers ; and much of the 
students' time that is spent in making copies from the ' flat ' would 
be more efiectually employed in drawing from objects. Drawing 
from the ' flat ' is only the beginning of the end : whereas it too 
generally appears as if copying was the end itself. Still further, 
we are entirely without any institutions, that I am aware of. that 
wUl compare with the French technical schools, the importance of 



DRAWING. 221 

which can scarcely be overrated. Our schools of design are not 
at all comparable with them; for they give no evidence of a special 
course of instruction any more than is shown by ordinary private 
academies/' 

Mr. James Hole, honorable secretary of the York- 
shire Union of Mechanics' Institutes, in a letter in 1868 
to Lord Montagu, vice-president of the Committee of 
Council on Education, says : — 

" Our art schools do not bear a sufficiently close relation to the 
actual work in which art workmen are engaged to give the latter 
a personal interest in the studies. The great merit of the trade 
schools on the Continent is the intimate relation they establish 
between the instruction in science and art, and its practical appli- 
cations. Our schools of art produce highly-elaborated works, much 
as if we aimed at producing artists rather than skilled workmen. 
The national medals are given for excellence in subjects interesting 
mainly to amateurs, artists, and professional teachers, — painting 
from nature in colors, drawing from the antique, and design, — but 
in which manufacturers and machinists have little share, as medals 
are not given for excellence in mechanical drawing. No examples 
for students to draw from are provided for the schools of art : and 
those 'that are made use of in the Leeds School of Art (the centre 
of a machine-making district) are French drawings purchased in 
Paris. 

" Until the instruction of the schools can be made to have a 

more direct bearing upon industrial work, neither workingmen 

nor their employers can be expected to take a very strong interest 

in the schools. But once establish that relation, and it probably 

19* 



222 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

would not be difficult to induce employers to pennit a small portion 
of the work-time to be devoted to the purpose of practically illus- 
trated brief lectures on the principles involved in their work. And, 
if the employers were thus enabled to see the importance of this 
union of knowledge with labor, artisans would likewise deem it 
an object of ambition ; and we should thus get some of the best 
results of the Continental trade schools. It is vdn to expect that 
any considerable portion of our workmen will give up their hardly- 
earned leisure for studies the importance of which they cannot 
yet feel. During the recent discussions on this subject at Birming- 
ham, a manufacturer stated that he had introduced lessons on 
design into his workshop for the benefit of his apprentices, and 
with the most beneficial and satisfactory results." 

TESTI3I0XT OF SCOTT RUSSELL. 

Mr. J. Scort Bus.sell, in his work on the " Systematic 
Technical Education of the English People," says : — 

" It is not enough that the workman thoroughly masters the 
form which his work shall take : he mast also be able to draw what 
we have called the three plans of his work on paper. This may 
be considered an unnecessary piece of skill for the man who has 
only to do the particular work assigned to him, and of which, 
probably, a perfect pattern is put before his eyes to guide him. 
But the mere seeing of his pattern is not adequate to superior execu- 
tion. Every bit of work which one man does has to fit into some 
other bit of work of some other man's doing. In work there are 
degrees, — perfect fit and misfit of all grades. To make his work 
fit other people's, a man must know, not merely his own, but that 
of all about hinL Each man should therefore understand the plans 



DRAWING. 223 

ol the complete ■wc> *k on which he and his fellows are engaged, in 
order to work well to the other's hand. The only way to get this 
thorough understanding of plans is to have learned to draw them 
one's self. Complete plan-drawing, applied to his own business, is 
therefore essential to a good workman." 

It was generally conceded by the artists of England, 
and by foreign visitors, that the textile manufactures 
from India were the most perfect in design of any that 
appeared in the London Exhibition, 1851. Owen Jones, 
the author of "The Grammar of Ornament," referring 
to this fact, says, " We see in the ornaments and 
articles from India the works of a people who are not 
allowed by their religion to draw the human form; and 
it is probable, that to this cause we msij attribute their 
great success in their ornamental works. Here in 
Europe we h'j7e been studj-ing drawing from the human 
figure ; but \t has not led. us forward in the art of orna- 
mental design. Although the study of the human 
figure is useful in refining the taste, and teaching accu- 
rate observation, it is a roundabout way of learning to 
draw for the designer for manufactures." 

A simple glance at the programme of any special 
school for industrial education, even for agriculture or 
gardening, will show how much importance is attached 
to drawing in nearly all parts of Europe. Thus about 



224 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

one-half of the time, on an average, is devoted to draw- 
ing in all the trade schools of Germany ; which schools 
are for the instruction of apprentices and master arti- 
sans. In the lower practical schools, not designed for 
any particular industry, from two to four hours a week 
are consumed in drawing ; while, in the higher practical 
schools, drawing occupies from one-quarter to one-third 
of the time. In the technical universities and colleges, 
the students give about one-half of their time to draw- 
ing. Some, of course, give more, some less, according 
to the department of industry for which they are pre- 
paring. What is true of Germany is true of France, 
of Switzerland, and of other European countries. Then 
below all this lies that earlier instruction in drawing 
which is almost nniversally given in the elementary 
schools, where the education of the whole people begins. 

BELGIAX TESTIMONY. 

A congress to examine into the best methods of mak- 
ing artistic instruction general was held at Brussels, 
Sept. 21-23, 1868. This congress was attended by a 
large number of teachers and inspectors of drawing 
from the Belgian academies, by Belgian painters and 
sculptors, and by delegates from various foreign coun- 
tries. In his opening address, defining tlie object of 



DRAWING. 225 

the congress, the questions to be discussed, M. Yiss- 
chers, member of the Board of Mines, and president 
of the Committee of Organization, said: — 

" GE:sTLE3rEX, — You have all seen the remarkable exposition 
of drawings by the pupils of our academies and our free schools. 
A jmy, composed of competent men, has been commissioned to 
judge of these productions, and to propose to the government the 
distribution of suitable rewards, to be given to the authors of 
the best works. Our duty, on the other hand, will be to examine 
the questions contained in our programme, — ' the extension of the 
instruction in the principles of drawing to all the primary schools, 
and re-organization of the artistic instruction imparted in the sec- 
ondary and higher schools.' The subject before us to-day is insepa- 
rably interwoven with the true interests of the mass of the people, 
the advancement of industry, the useful and the fine arts. The 
question is, by what means we can place in the hands of all men, 
particularly the working-man and mechanic, a new instrument to 
increase their personal capital, — the power of usefulness and enjoy- 
ment.'* 

As with other educational subjects, the discussion 
which followed developed a variety of opinions, more or 
less divergent, as to the best manner of teaching draw- 
ing. It was generally agreed, ho\\"ever, that drawing 
ought to be introduced into all the primary scliools, and 
should consist chiefly of linear drawing. 

M. Von Marke said he would begin with straight 



226 TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

lines, then proceed to geometrical figures, followed hy 
rectilinear designs, and then by those having curved 
lines, advancing to ornaments. The pupil could now 
take up drawing from nature with advantage, copying 
solids first, then models of simple ornament, gradually 
advancing to things more elaborate and difficult. 

Having been urged by many members of the con- 
gress, M. Hendricks, whose method of teaching draw- 
ing has been widely commended in Europe, described it, 
in brief, thus : — 

MISTAKEN STUDY OF THE HUMAN FIGURE. 

"I must State here, that I had investigated every thing carefully 
before I became aware of the evil (the deplorable state of instruc- 
tion in drawing in its application to industry and the different 
trades), and found that it consisted alone in confused ideas on 
the part of teachers. In my opinion, this evil is not the conse- 
quence of want of talent in those who teach : on the contrary, 
many of our teachers are very competent ; and by far the greater 
number possess undoubted talent. No : the fault lies in another 
direction, — in that too frequent and widespread mistake, that 
the study of the human figure suffices, and ought to precede 
every thing else, how inferior soever the trade may be to which the 
pupil intends to devote himself. There lies the mistake, and the 
generally-acknowledged decline of our artistic teaching in its appli- 
cations to the various branches of our national labor. I will prove 
this by mentioning a few simple statistics. Upwards often thousand 
pupils attend annually our various academies and schools of design ; 



DEAWING. 227 

and the majority of them have practised nothing but copying the 
human figure from engravings or plaster casts. Now, if this exclu- 
sive study was sufficient, ought not our manufactures, as a general 
rule, to show the highest artistic taste? We all know that this is 
far from being the case. Nobody will deny that the study of the 
human figure is the basis of all purely artistic teaching. But it 
may likewise be very justly remarked, that several branches of art — 
such as the painting of landscapes, flowers, views of cities, naval 
scenes, and many other subjects — have been cultivated to their high- 
est degree of perfection, without their authors being able to show a 
profound knowledge of the study of the human figure. A great 
number of other less important branches of art may likewise thrive 
without having this study for their basis. To the decorator or 
ornamental sculptor, the natural kingdoms furnish a large number 
of other elements which are just as indispensable for him. The 
foundation of his whole art lies, more than anywhere else, in the 
study of the various phenomena presented by the vegetable king- 
dom, from whose inexhaustible sources, he, from time immemorial, 
has drawn the ideas for his most beautiful creations, and his happi- 
est applications to useful objects, as well as for the architectural 
designs which antiquity has bequeathed to us. 

GEOMETRY THE TRUE BASIS OF ALL ELEMENTRT DRAWING-. 

" According to my idea, all elementary drawing should take, as 
its foundation, geometry, and make the elements of this science 
subservient to the analysis of artistic forms, in such a manner that 
they are not an inanimate instrument only, but, on the contrary, a 
means by which the pupil can himself control and appreciate his 
work. Every method should be rational, positive, and not leave 
room for doubt in the pupil's mind. This is the idea which has 



228 TECRXrCAL EDUCATION. 

served me as a starting-point in making out the method which I am 
about to lay before you. I have arranged it in such a manner that 
the pupil is at once enabled to appreciate the peculiarities of the 
most complicated forms, using simpler forms with which he has 
already been made familiar. 

FIRST DEGREE OF TEACHING. 

" These studies consist m the free-hand drawing of forms and fig- 
ures, in general, geometrically rep-esented. Before letting the pupil 
reproduce a copy of the smallest object, we exercise his eyes and his 
hands in using elementary figures which allow him to understand 
gradually their relative proportions, their characteristic combination, 
their particular form, and, finally, all their details. On the thorough 
practice of these preliminary exercises depend the immediate and 
complete results in the reproduction of forms and figures. The pnpil, 
knowing how to construct (by free-hand drawing) a perfect square, 
and rectangular figures of all dimensions, will gradually apply the 
generic geometrical figures which he has been taught. This knowl- 
edge, practically acquired, will enable him to understand immedi- 
ately the characteristic combination of the object presented to him, 
to analyze all its outlines, and reproduce them in all their relative 
dimensions. 

SECOND DEGREE OF TEACHING. 

" Solids, their Construction and their Stud,/. — As in the first degree 
of teaching, we also here, before letting the pupil copy from some 
figure, give him the means of understanding the form, and the way in 
which it is composed. We commence by making him understand 
the construction of elementary figures. He leams, first of all, the 
construction of the cube, and its different rectangular divisions, and, 
next, to place it in all the positions possible. If he has once acquired 



DRAWING. 229 

this foundation, he successirelj refers to it all the generic forms, the 
combinations of which he 'makes in the various positions which the 
teacher prescribes. He proves by this that he can see in the space, 
and that he possesses a correct knowledge of the principal parts of 
which any given figure is composed. Arrived at this point of his 
studies, he undertakes the construction of more developed figures, 
at the same time studying the various elements of ornaments in their 
second degree. He represents, on an even surface, what a moulder 
represents by his mould. He sees solid forms ; and he will soon be 
able to express his thoughts in drawing, building, &c., forms which 
constitute the object of his special study. 

THIRD DEGREE OF TEACHING. 

" Drawing after Objects or Figures placed at some Distance. — It is 
indispensable here, that, at the very outset, the pupil should becQme 
thoroughly familiar with the rules of perspective ; but, simple and 
easy as they are in their application to the whole figure, just as diffi- 
cult and tedious do they become in their regular application to the 
construction of every single part of an object. In recommending 
the study of the rules of this science, we do not mean the rigorous 
application of these rules to the elevations on the profiles of the 
thousand different points of a capital (of a pillar) or other architec- 
tural ornaments. We will leave this to men who study science for 
its own sake. What we want is this : that the pupil learn to know 
the construction of the objects which he has to i-epresent, that then 
he may learn to give to all the details of this object their proper 
perspective position. The same would also apply to the study of 
light and shade. 

" Any pupil who is in earnest, and has thus been prepared by the 
elementary and analytical study of the three degrees of out method, 
20 



230 TEdESlCAL EDUCATIOy. 

will be able in less than a year to copy anv object placed before 
him, and do it successfally. Thus does the first degree comprise 
the study of forms geometrically represented, and the means of 
reproducing them in all their just proportions ; whilst the second 
and third degrees have for their aim the initiation of the pupil in the 
construction and reproduction of forms and figures such as they 
present themselves in space." 

M. de Taeye. Director of the Eoyal Academy of Fine 
Arts at LoTivain, said : — 

" We may here, for safety, establish this principle : the elemen- 
tary study of every kind of drawing must be based on geometrical 
forms ; only we shall see, that, in putting it into practice, it is indis- 
pensable to pursue two different ways. By geometrical drawing, 
one arrives at an exact, precise, and mathematical representation of 
the object, taking note of its length, breadth, &c. Thus the mind 
gets a complete knowledge of its real form, and is enabled to make 
the most delicate analysis ; whilst, by drawing from sight, one only 
takes note of the apparent form of the object, according to the point 
of view from which one considers it, without being able to arrive at 
an analysis of its real form. The first way of drawing obtains its 
results by means of instruments, such as ruler and compasses ; 
whilst the second relies substantially on the exercise of the eye, and 
the practice of the hand. I believe, therefore, that a combination 
of these two methods is an absolute necessity in order to constitute 
a complete and rational system of teaching which satisfies the de- 
mands of imagination and reason." 

[For a fuller account of the diseusaion 'by the congreas at Brussels, see 
*« Technical Education," by Henry Barnard, LL D.] 



DEAWING. 231 

FRENCH KErORT ON DRAWING, AT THE UNIVERSAL 
EXPOSITION, PARIS, 1867. 

The following is the report made to the French Min- 
ister of Public Instruction, by the committee on ^^in- 
struction in drawing in the normal schools, the primary 
schools, and the course for adults," in France : — 

" Commissioned by your Excellency to examine the drawings 
executed for the Universal Exposition, we finished the first part of 
this work with M. Brongniart, inspector of schools for the city of 
Paris, placing a mark upon each drawing to indicate its value. 

"My colleague of the superior council of special instruction, 
M. Sebastien Cornu, desired to repeat the examination with me; 
and we have ranked each of the schools whose products were dis- 
played at the Exposition. 

" We have, therefore, had a double means of verification, of proof, 
in an investigation which we wished to make with extreme care, as 
we desired to respond the best we could to the felicitous thought 
which your Excellency has expressed for the improvement of draw- 
ing in France. 

" "We realize the full importance of your resolves concerning this 
matter, now that we have seen the sacrifices made abroad, especially 
in England and Germany, in order to enter the pathway of a like 
progress. 

" Hitherto, relying on an honorable past, on great examples, and 
on this personal initiative, which have been regarded wrongly, ac- 
cording to our view, as sufficient in art, things have, in large meas- 
ure, been left to themselves in France, Undoubtedly, even without 



lloZ TECH^TCAL ZDUCATIOX. 

direction, without schools, without encouragement, there will always 
arise on French soil, artists, — choice natures, — who will leave the 
multitude in spite of every thing; but if the times, if the condi- 
tions, become linle favorable, these happy exceptions will be more 
rare : some natural dispositions will be smothered, others ptrverted. 
Grenius itself, without severe study, shrinks to the proportions of 
talent. An age wiU give Watteau or Boucher in place of Leonardo 
da Vinci and Louini. And, if ice go back to the real influences iclach 
determine the merit of artists, tee see of what necessity are o'assic studies 
from the very dawn of life ; indeed, haw the first instruction in draicing 
is responsible for the future public taste. 

"It is of this future we would wish to speak with entire 
freedom. 

" Present results, so for as relates to mechanical drawing, graphic 
drawing, machine-drawing, are almost always very satisfactory : on 
the contrary, when we consider ornamentation, the copies and mod- 
els and the instruction are equally defective ; while all that pertains 
to the figure, to imitation-drawing, is worse still. 

*' If we except the schools of Paris, Potiers, Nancy, Slulhouse, 
Metz, Grenoble, Orleans, St. Quentin, Eochefort, the normal 
schools of Tulle, Chaumont, Cluny, the lay schools of Beauvais, 
d'Epinal, Peronne, Chapelle-sur-Loir, the ecclesiastic schools of 
Mezieres, Sedan, Bayeux, Kive-de-Gier, and Reims, the specimens, 
the works of the pupils which we have had in hand, show how much 
good a prompt reform would do. In the normal schools, in the im- 
perial lyceums, — that is to say, in the schools for the class called to 
direct, to form, to elevate others, — we have found the drawings much 
inferior to those which a school of workmen in Paris could execute. 
It seems to us important that this should not be so. Out of Paris, 
in the matter of drawing, there \s, with very rare exceptions, no su 



DEAWING. 238 

periority manifested by the adult classes or in the popular courses. 
There is almost everywhere an equally bad level. Yet we have 
often found among the pupils a great desire to do well, real apti- 
tude, with an enormous amount of work. 

" As far as we can see, with some remarkable exceptions, the 
time devoted to imitation-drawing is almost completely lost ; and 
these are the principal causes of this misfortune : — 

" Everywhere the copies and models of figures and of ornaments 
are as bad as possible, and will be the cause of perpetuating bad 
taste and ignorance. Many of the teachers of drawing, who have 
often been the first victims of this state of things, cannot draw : 
what is worse, they do not know how the drawing should be done; 
while their taste is that of the copies and models which they buy. 
They teach error vnth a profound conviction, with the best possible 
faith. The notes placed by them upon the miserable productions of 
patience very badly employed often showed, that, if the master did 
not do the work for his pupil, he was ready to indorse it. 

" Another cause of evil is this : in the lyceums, in the colleges, 
the drawing-lesson, taken out of the time for recreation, has always 
been considered by the students as a species of encroachment upon 
their rest and their sports. They come, therefore, to these studies, 
however attractive in themselves, with an ill-humor which they 
regard as well founded. They are resolved on a retaliation, of which 
they are the first dupes in reality, and defend themselves against the 
lesson, instead of seeking to profit by it as do the pupils in the arti- 
san classes. Those only, and at the last moment, who are going to 
the special schools, strive to learn just that which they regard as 
sufiicient to cover their ignorance, and help them through their 
examination. 

" f'inally, there is a graver cause than bad instruction : it is found 
20* 



204 TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

in the debasement of the public taste. This is sometimes a species 
of weakening of the moral sense, revealed by certain lamentable 
signs. 

THE GREAT VALUE OF GOOD DRAWIXG-COPIES. 

" ^hen we have striven to discover what is best in France, in 
order to ask your Excellency how to make it general by searching 
for that which had produced it, my colleagues and myself have been 
surprised to see how the art sentiment, perceptible even in the draw- 
ings of children (if we may speak of them), is radically modified by 
the objects which are constantly under the eyes. I desire to mention 
only one striking example. 

*' The city of Xancy sent landscapes, figures, ornaments, flowers, 
executed by different schools. In spite of the variety of instruction, 
all the works had a unique character of grandeur, of amplitude, a 
little marred, however, by that bad taste wliich Stanislas everywhere 
impressed upon a city rebuilt in one period. The influence of that 
period — of that architecture of Stanislas — has been such that we 
can recognize a drawing from Xancy among a thousand. 

" The models, therefore, are not simply those sheets of paper 
which are only for an hour under the eyes during the drawing-lesson, 
but every thing, indeed, which we behold in childhood ; especially 
every thing wliich we regard with passion, with love. 

" Thus at Athens, when the Greek chisels cut the marble, they 
could produce only beautiful things. Doubtless, it is impossible to 
give the children of a little town, otherwise than by photography 
and engraving, specimens of beautiful monuments capable of enlar- 
ging, elevating, their ideas. But, if one cannot always procure the 
best, to shun bad impressions is a duty. 

" After this assault unon bad drawings, we shall ask you to have 
excellent ones made ; for this is the true way to fortify again.st the 



DRAWING. 235 

bad. We could wish to see appear a complete, serviceable series of 
figures, ornaments, flowers. Beyond the good ones which already 
exist, would it not be possible to obtain some contributions from 
certain large commercial cities, or from establishments having a 
direct interest in the creation of schools of taste, of schools of prac- 
tical and serious art ? Would it not be possible to imitate the great 
progress accomplished in Paris 1 

WHAT PARIS HAS DONE FOR DRAWING IN THE MUNICIPAL 
SCHOOLS. 

" I would like here to give the provinces an account of what the 
city has done — I ought to say, grandly, generously — with such far- 
seeing liberality. I wish the inspectors of the departments could 
see what I began to examine first as a matter of conscience, of duty, 
but which I afterwards studied with extreme interest, — the schools 
of drawing, the schools for adults in Paris. 

"A few years ago the city authorities perceived how important it 
was, at this juncture of affairs of industry, to have at its service 
more artisans who understood drawing, — men of taste in all the 
departments of labor. Embossers, sculptors, metal-workers, those 
who produce pottery, objects of luxury, all have need of artistic 
studies, which make the worth of the man, the worth of the article, 
and the fortune of the merchant. 

" And yet Paris had for schools only certain miserable low halls, 
without air, windows narrow, badly lighted by day, badly lighted also 
by night; and what copies ! what models ! But in spite of this, in 
spite of the insufficient appointments, so deleterious to the health of 
the pupils, so little attractive to young men, for whom every thing 
around them was attractive, these miserable schools were full. 
Stone-cutters wished to become sculptors ; at least in the next gene- 



236 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

ration. House-painters aspired to become decorators. Knowledge 
of personal interest recommended the study of art, for the purpose 
of increasing wages, to all artisans who were anxious to advance. 

Among men of ability are always men of heart. The lofty 
and wise activity of the prefect of the Seine, moved by the desire 
of the municipal council, which is the organ of art-interests, took 
the business in liand. A commission — presided over by the distin- 
guished savan and friend of youth, M. Dumas, whom one finds at 
the head of all these generous organizations — was appointed. This 
commission obtained the firm and steady co-operation of the su- 
perintendent of the fine arts, and of the members of the institute, 
who formed a part of it. All have held it an honor to follow in 
minute details the execution of a plan which should have for the 
regeneration of art the most serious consequences. In a situation 
less elevated, but not less useful, we will mention the services of a 
young artist, M. Brongniart, secretary of the commission, and his 
colleague in the inspection of schools of drawing, M. Baize, both 
of whom have shown themselves patient and indefatigable, and 
who, in a few years, have given to all the schools uniform and 
excellent appointments, have organized the use of copies and models, 
and impressed everywhere habits of precision, of order, and a pas- 
sion for duty. 

"Many young persons, thanks to the labors of the commission 
and to the authority of the prefect, are now using, under excellent 
teachers, select copies and models, and attend courses of instruction 
which augment their zeal. Instruction in drawing has indeed re- 
vived in Paris. Even after we make allowance for the conditions, 
always more favorable in a large city, still we are compelled to say 
that the results far exceed what the rest of the empire can show. 
Charged simply with an examination, with a comparison perhaps^ 



DRAWING. 237 

of different school's, doubtless it does not belonc: to us to advise such 
or such measures for establishing everywhere that equality of good 
which we have found at Paris. The resources and the obstacles 
must differ in each locality ; but in recognizing a real superiority 
over the rest of France, or over foreign countries, we have desired 
to learn, as far as we could, the course pursued to pi'oduce such 
rapid improvement ; and we believe the memorial of it ought to be 
preserved. This, briefly, is the substance of it : — 

" Under the able magistracy of the prefect of the Seine, the 
universal desire for progress, at first manifested only by the munici- 
pal council, led that council to establish a commission, which 
should ascertain, beyond doubt, the exact state of instruction in 
drawing in the municipal schools. The commission devoted a year 
to investigations, as severe as important, in order to determine 
what reforms should be inaugurated, what capital they required ; 
in a word, to determine by what means they could effect, in a 
durable manner, the reforms of which we have been able to state 
the marvellous results. These investigations once finished, the 
University hastened to give her co-operation to measures of which 
she could appreciate the full necessity. Funds were appropriated ; 
and the realization of good did not linger. 

" The examination made by the commission showed that there 
was in Paris a condition of things analogous to that which we find 
everywhere in France to-day, — that is to say, copies and models 
insufficient in number (generally of a very mediocre character, 
suggesting to the pupils a detestable past of commonplace), a small 
number of teachers, and, indeed, very inadequate appointments. 

" This is what was done to obviate these various evils : in order 
to have better copies, after submitting to a severe purification all 
those in use, they appealed to the kindness of Count Nieuwerkerke^ 



238 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

member of the commission, as well as superintendent of fine arts. 
Among the studies from nature which had <>;ained medals for their 
authors during the course at the school of fine arts, he had search 
made for a certain number of figures hitherto overlooked, concealed 
at this school, and which now furnish the pupils of the municipal 
schools most precious resources. Then followed the happy thought 
of promising a recompense to the future laureates, when their 
figures should be taken as models for municipal instruction. 

" For the same purpose, the pensioned pupils at Rome were 
Fequired to send a certain number of drawings after the Italian 
masters, or after nature. Finally, M. Gc'rome, member of the insti- 
tute, colleague of Count Nieuwerkerke on the commission, under- 
took the task of having a limited quantity of lithographs made, 
which would serve to show the printsellers the new way it was 
resolved to try ; to show them the impossibility of continuing to 
sell for the purposes of instruction, which was henceforth to be 
better, the productions of the past, which had been executed by 
contract, and without competition for honors. As to the teachers, 
the task was yet more difficult. This is how they satisfactorily met 
the difficulty : For many worthy artists it must be advantageous to 
give some hours to the instruction of youth, as a rest from other 
fatigues, other labors. This professorship, profitable alike to teach- 
er and pupil, not only affords the teacher a money recompense, but 
it is an honorable title. 

" Instead of choosing the teachers from among candidates with 
out guaranty, and upon information which might lead astray, they 
established competitive examinations and diplomas, which, elevat- 
ing the level of studies by emulation, present the advantage of 
revealing the capacities and unknown aptitudes for imparting in- 
struction. These diplomas, whose advantage had always been con- 



DRAWING. 239 

sidered incontestable in other branches of education, produced a 
marvellous result. They afforded to Paris strong evidence of 
merit : they will afford, in the future, lists of capable teachers open 
to calls from the provinces and from abroad. 

"Finally the commission (and this will be one of its titles to 
gratitude) made the competitive examinations established among 
the differsnt pupils of iis schools the object of a double recom- 
pense, — one for the students who were successful, and one for the 
teachers who had led to their success ; the salaries of the teachers 
to be augmented according to the number of prizes obtained by the 
young laureates. 

" We have, then, at Paris to-day, in the municipal schools, emu- 
lation of pupils and teachers, frequent examination of work, and 
certainty that they who teach carry not into their classes an indiiFer- 
ence which might exist even with real talent. There is, thanks to 
this combination, the assurance of a union of efforts towards the 
same common end. 

"As to the appointments, to speak the truth, and render 
justice to every one, I ought here to say, that they have been modi- 
fied in the happiest manner, and do no less honor to the commis- 
sion than to the zeal which their secretaiy displayed in changing 
completely the halls of drawing all along one bank of the Seine, 
and a portion of the other. 

" All those who are occupied with education know how the love 
of labor is increased by objects apparently insignificant. One 
works better in a good class, where order reigns, under a good 
light. In looking at the magnificent appointments of Cluny, one 
of the examiners said to the director, that, if his hopes were to 
produce ordinary masters, the future would show chemists, savans, 
were it only for the magnificence of the laboratory, capable, in 
itself, of making all the youth dream of the institute. 



240 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

''The good arrangements of the halls of drawing have contrib- 
uted, we are convinced, to diffuse the taste and the habit of work 
among all the young draughtsmen in the suburbs of Paris ; and we 
sincerely believe, that, if other cities were willing to imitate a move- 
ment which I have only been able to describe in a brief and incom- 
plete manner, the results would be everywhere equally decisive. 

"As to the special normal school at Cluny, I cannot do better 
than to quote here an extract fi'om the report made by M. Dumas 
for the commission charged with the inspection of the establish- 
ment (June, 1867). 

N0R3IAL SCHOOL OF CLUNY. — DRAWING. 

" * The inspection of the instruction given at Cluny by the pro- 
fessor of drawing has been very satisfactory. The method, which 
is that of Hendricks, is as good as a method can be ; for we must 
not expect to obtain decisive and heroic results, even from a very 
rational course of instruction, which can, at best, only develop the 
inborn tendencies, restrain dangerous impulses, and abridge the 
time of the studies. 

'•'* The instruction at Cluny presents all these advantages. The 
professor is clear in his explanations, full of zeal ; and one has only 
to approve what he has done. His pupils listen to him with atten- 
tion, respect, and a desire to understand and to do w^ell. 

" ' M. H. Dufiesne, member of the Superior Council of Special 
Instruction, who has consented to accept the mission of judging the 
pupils of Cluny in relation to drawing, is at this moment charged 
as a juror, to examine, at the Universal Exposition, the different 
modes of instruction practised abroad. He has everywhere seen the 
Hendricks meihod produce good results. The geometrical tra- 
cings which form its basis permit one to compare exactly the pro- 



DRAWING. 241 

portions of the copy, facilitate enlargement or reduction, and 
habituate the pujiil to discover for himself his errors, and to correct 
them. Leonardo da Vinci, and almost all the Italian masters, em- 
ployed this method for their pupils and for themselves. Indeed, 
this mode of procedure is analogous to that of the sculptors for 
getting the proportions of their marbles, and gives the same results. 
This comparison is sufficient to indicate what are its advantages 
and its limitations. 

"'It seems advisable, indeed, not to continue this manner of draw- 
ing for a long time, but to vary it sometimes ; for example, by 
making the geometrical tracings after the execution of the figure, 
as a proof; or, pei'haps, by confining them to certain points of 
division, to certain great lines of mov^ement, so as to acquire the 
habit of drawing rapidly and with spirit, while drawing well.' 

" Finally, I would conclude this report with certain practical 
hints as to the way in which we could wish that instruction in draw- 
ing should generally begin. 

"'At the Universal Exposition,' says M. Cornu, my colleague, 
in a note which I produce entire, * various methods of teaching 
drawing are exhibited by different nations, with the results obtained 
by each of them. These methods are rational. They are based, for 
mechanical drawing, on geometry. They are illustrated, for the 
most part, by figures in relief, and have mathematical exactitude. 
As to the methods of teaching drawing from copies, they depend 
upon principles and means of demonstration generally good and 
ingenious in their mode of application. 

FORM, AND NOT SHADE, THE IMPORTANT THING FOR BEGINNERS. 

"'The geometrical, machine, architectural drawings, &c., are more 
satisfactory, whatever be the nation to which they belong, than the 
21 



242 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

copies of figures, flowers, and ornaments of the different classes ofi 
imitation-drawinff. One mi,i;ht attribute this relative inferiority to 
the copies, defective in taste and form; also to a certain negligence 
in teaching. You cannot sufficiently combat the tendency of pupils 
to shade too much in order to arrive at effect, and to destroy their 
masses of light by too much detail, and their musses of shade by too 
much reflection. We cannot too often repeat, that the important 
point is, not to load a drawing with exaggerated lights and shades, 
which give an unnatural aspect to the object represented, but ratlier 
to render its true character by a faithful and intelligent outline, and 
by lights, shades, and half-tints in their prof>er place, and in relative 
and harmonious proportions. 

"'Here are certain estimates of instracLion in drawing abroad : — 

ENGLAND. 

" ' The Kensington School presents at the Exposition an impor- 
tant collection of studies of different kinds. Some of these studies 
are very remarkable ; notably, the flowers painted by Menzies, the 
ornaments in various styles, by Reule, Boon, and Collins, and 
also the drawings for paper-hangings by Chandler. It is evident 
that the pupils of this fine establishment have the best and rarest 
sources from which to draw. How, then, can we help being aston- 
ished at the difference which exists between the works which we 
have just named, and the figures painted in oil, in water-colors, or 
made with the crayon ? Without speaking of a picture represent- 
ing a woman bathing, — the execution of which, and the taste, leave 
much to be desired, — those studies are, in general, soft and affected, 
or in a hard manner, and jumbled in colors and effects. The draw- 
ings of anatomical figures, made with so much care and manual 
skill, as well as academical collections drawn too hastily, show 



DRAWING. 243 

clearly that it Is more important and more difficult to give tlie true 
character of external forms and accuracy of movement than to 
give the minutest details of the muscles concealed under the skin. 



" ' Many schools of drawing established at Vienna and in othei 
cities of the empire have sent to the Exposition their methods of 
instruction and the works of their pupils. The school directed by 
Prof. Machatschek is one of the most important, and the one whose 
works are the most numerous and the most satisfactory. The sec- 
tion of architecture and mechanics, principally, offer a list of works 
executed with method, and in a laudable manner. It is to be re- 
gretted that the imitation-drawings of figures, of flowers, and of 
ornaments, as well as the model studies in bass-relief of divers styles, 
leave something to be desired in selection and execution. We make 
one exception for the Baugewerbe Schule of Vienna, whose draw- 
ings of ornament are in good taste, and well executed. 

DENMARK. 

" ' The drawings by the pupils of the School of Copenhagen 
deserve to be honorably mentioned for the simple and intelligent 
manner in which they are done. One finds there, what is seldom 
seen in the works of pupils, the sobriety and harmony of effect, per- 
mitting form to predominate, making it serviceable, instead of 
destroying it, as so frequently happens. In conclusion, this exhi- 
bition does honor to the instruction and to the enlightened direction 
of the School of Copenhagen. 

BAVARIA. 

" * It is just to piece in the first rank the Nuremberg School of 
Art and Industry. The beautiful exhibition of the products of its 



244 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

various departments do the greatest honor to its skilful direction, as 
well as to the talent and intelligent zeal of its professors. Tho 
drawing of figure and ornament, the modelling and sculpture, are 
explained and developed in a manner original and varied. From 
studies of heads, of draperies (wlicther in drawing or in relief), of 
portraits in historic costumes, of academic figures of small size to 
those which are drawn of natural size stumped on a shaded ground, 
there is a very remarkable specimen of the works of student paint- 
ers and statuaries. The sculpture, more particularly decorative, 
shows, also, a very great quantity of ornamentation, composed almost 
v,'hoMy in the Gothic style, foliated and flowered a little beyond 
measure. In the whole number we discover but two or three bits 
in the Roman style. The Greek does not appear at all. This 
almost complete absence of the antique element must be attributed, 
without doubt, to the necessity of forming special sculptors to restore 
the ancient Gothic edifices injured by time, and also to ornament 
the new monuments erected in this same style so dear to Germans. 
Thus it happens that there is a void to be regretted in the instruc- 
tion of the Nuremberg School. On the other hand, the course of 
study in the direction of invention and of composition of objects of 
industrial art appears excellent, and gives the best results. 

WITRTEMBERG. 

" * A remarkable collection of plaster models, from elementary 
geometrical figures to the most complicated ornaments of pointed 
architecture, has been formed at Stuttgard by M. de Steinbeis. 
Mouldings of plants and foliage, most skilfully made from nature, 
supply the pupil with excellent subjects for study, and show him 
what assistance be can obtain from nature for decorative art. The 
judgment which presided over the creation of a course of drawing 



DEAWING. 245 

by mouldings after nature cannot approve the bad method followed 
in making the great black drawings which cover the walls of the 
Bavaria and Wurtemberg Exposition, — a method which consists 
in forcing the pupil to spend much time on complicated drawings, 
filled with heavy shades that are produced by great effort at hatch- 
ing, and which teach them absolutely nothing.' 

" Here are the theories of art, which we present to those who are 
delegated to teach. In other respects, the whole personal initiation 
is left to them." 

Henri Dufkesne, Reporter. 



PLAN OF TEACHING DRAWING AT THE ROYAL INDUSTRIAL 
SCHOOL IN NUREMBERG, ADOPTED IN NOVEMBER, 1869. 

I. Ornamental drawing, preparatory class, (a) After orna- 
mental models, twelve hours weekly, {h) Exercises in the drawing 
of surface ornaments, six hours weekly ; Prof. F. C. Meyer. 

II. Drawing from the antique, twenty-four hours weekly ; Prof. 
Jaeger. 

ni. (a) Dra^ang from living models, groups of figures and 
drapery, twelve hours weekly ; Supt. Kreling. [h) Drawing of 
heads, twelve hours weekly ; Supt. Kreling and Prof Jaeger, (c) Ex- 
ecution of cartoons, paintings on glass, &c. ; Supt. Kreling and 
Prof. Wanderer. 

Technical School. — First Course. 

First Term (of six months). — Education of the eye and hand by 
the drawing of lines and geometrical figures. Eull size drawing of 
bodies with plane surfaces. Explanation of the faculty of sight, 
21* 



246 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

and the first principles of perspective. Linear drawing without 
instruments is combined with free-hand drawing. 

Second Term. — Continuation of free-hand drawing. Drawing of 
simple ornaments, from pictures fastened on the walls, or from 
slightly relieved or intersected objects. Linear drawing with the aid 
of square, and mathematical instruments. Division, measuring, and 
transfer of right lines, angles, and figures. Construction, gradation, 
and subdivision of scales. 

Second Course. 
Drawing of figures in relief. Drawing of compound ornaments, 
from "plastic " (plasfischen) models. The proportion of the human 
head and its parts in firm, simple outlines, from pictures fastened on 
the walls. Exercises in the construction of regular curved lines. 
Architectural details. Projections of simple surfaces and plane cir- 
cumscribed contours. Eelief-drawing, after simple " plastic " objects 
in different proportions as to size. 

Third Course. 

Continuation of the exercises in free-hand drawing, curvilinear 
objects, drawing of animals and plants, — so far as applicable in 
ornaments, — with light shading to mark the form. Explanation 
of the manner of representing sti/Je. Drawing of the human body 
and its proportions in outlines. Linear drawing. Continuation of 
exercises in the drawing of projected figures, with reference to sim- 
ple machines and models. The (five) orders of architecture. Lidus- 
trial ornamentations and profiles, — if possible, in natural size, — 
after models. Sketching from nature. Exercises in India ink. De- 
signs in intersection. Relief-drawing, after pictures of simple fonns 
from the antique. 



DEAWING. 247 

Agricultural School. — First Course. 

First Term. — Training of the eye and hand in the drawing of 
lines, geometrical figures, and simple ornamental forms, from large 
pictures fastened on the walls. Drawing from correspondingly large 
bodies with plane surfaces. Explanation of the act of seeing, and 
the first elements of perspective. 

Second Term. — Linear drawing, with the aid of square and in- 
struments. Division into spaces. Measuring and transfer of straight 
lines, plane angles and figures. Construction and division of scales. 
Exercises in the drawing of simple geometrical bodies in outlines, 
and in various positions. The principles of projection. 

Second Course. 

Exercises in drawing of details of architecture, and especially 
arrangements of agricultural buildings, after models and original 
designs. Drawing of simple agricultural implements. Instruction 
in the designing of maps, and division of land into sections, intended 
for various agricultural purposes {culturpldnen). 

Third Course. 

Exercises in the drawing of whole buildings, after models on a 
diminished or enlarged scale. Sketches of buildings in elevation 
and in profile. Drawing of agricultural implements and machines, 
after original designs. 

Polytechnical School [Real Gymnasium'] . — First Course. 

Free-hand drawing. Exercises in the drawing of straight lines, 
and the formation of geometrical figures out of these lines. Draw- 
ing of bodies with plane surfaces, accompanied by explanations of 



248 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

the faculty of sight, and the first elements of perspective with refer- 
ence to single figures and groups of figures. Exercises in the draw- 
ing of curved lines, and the formation of simple ornaments out of 
tliese lines. Drawing of symmetrical ornaments and implements, 
from pictures fastened on the walls, and from slightly-relieved plas- 
ter casts of antique forms of art. 

Second Course. 

Free-hand drawing. Division and relations of different parts of 
the human body, from pictures on the walls. Foreshortening of 
single parts in different positions ; the form of the human body ia 
different movements. Richer ornaments, round and plane, in out- 
lines. Linear drawing. Exercises with rule, square, and compasses, 
by dottings or figures. Explanation of the principles of projection. 
Exercises in the delineation of simple bodies in projection. Pleas- 
uring and reduction of models of bodies, and their projection 
according to various positions. 

Third Course. 

Free-hand drawing. Practice in the art of shading in its sim- 
plest form, — at first from plane-surface ornaments, afterwards from 
round. Heads in different positions ; hands and feet, after easy 
models. Ornaments of different epochs of art, in connection with 
architectural details. Linear drawing. Measuring of compound 
models of bodies with plane surfaces, and their projection, by the 
application of geometrical rules, on an enlarged or reduced scale, 
according to position. Relief-drawing. Projection of ornamental 
details and of entire ornaments, — at first after solid, then after plane 
models, on an enlarged or diminished scale. 



DEAWING. 249 

Fourth Courae. 
Free-hand di'awing. Drawing of animals and plants, with close 
regard to foreshortening and oblique positions. Expl?^nation of 
style, and its mode of presentation. Drawing of figures, after plane 
models. Ornamentation in conjunction with the human form, and 
forms of animals. Linear drawing. Projections of bodies with 
curvilinear surfaces, and their interjections. Drawing of the orders 
of architecture. Exercises in linear perspective, and shading of 
outlines. Construction of models. Execution of forms of crystals, 
and their transitions, in pasteboard, after original designs, in accord- 
ance with the rules of descriptive geometry. 

With the authoritative testimony presented in this 
chapter, it cannot now be difficult to determine what 
should be the general scope and character of a course 
of drawing for common and special schools in this coun- 
try, calculated to give both educational and industrial 
results of the highest order. Such a course of draw- 
ing, whatever may be said of details, must embody 
the leading features which are approved by the 
authorities here cited ; as does, for instance, the 
course prepared by Prof. Walter Smith, Director of 
Art Education for the State of Massachusetts. For 
the purpose of preparing a course of instruction in 
drawing, and superintending its introduction into the 
public schools of the State, on the recommendation of 
the Science and Art Department of the British Govern- 



250 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

ment, Massachusetts and the city of Boston secured the 
services of Prof Smith, an English teacher of drawing 
and art, who had had an experience of many j^-ears as 
the head master of the school of art at Leeds, while he 
was familiar w4th the work done in the best Continental 
schools. With the results of European Art Education 
before us, and a clear understanding of our own needs, 
it does seem that there need be no more misconception 
of what is really meant by drawing, and no more seri- 
ous blunders made in teaching it in this country. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CONCLUSION". 



The testimony of the preceding pages is conclusive, 
that, at this juncture in affairs, American labor should 
be thoroughly educated. It would be better for the 
laborer who is educated ; since, by doing skilled work, 
his toil would bring him an ampler reward. It would 
be better for the employer ; since, with the same capital, 
he would obtain products of greater value, while he 
would have, in the educated labor under his control, 
an assurance of stability, an assurance that others could 
not excel him, and drive him from his business. It 
would be better even for the laborer who is by nature 
so stupid that he cannot be educated ; since the advance- 
ment of him who was educated to higher grades of 
employment would improve the chances, by diminish- 
ing the quantity, of ignorant bone and muscle. It 
would be better for the merchant; since it would en- 
able him, in the markets of the world, to meet success- 

251 



tlDZ TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

folly the competition of the world with native products; 
and the markets of the world, to-daj are no less the 
home than the foreiga markets. It would be better-for 
the State ; since it would give her more intelligent, more 
thriftj, more virtuous citizens- Indeed, as educated 
labor is in every way the best, so in every way is it 
the cheapest labor in the world. 

The TTork must begin ix the Primakt Schools. 
— The testimony is also conclusive, that the education 
now required by the laborer must be much more than 
merely literary, much more than merely technical : it 
must be a due combination of both elements. The 
work, too, of imparting this education, must begin in 
the primary schools, — wicli language and mathematics, 
with art and natural science. In the higher public 
schools it must keep the same breadth, mainly leaving 
specialties of all kinds for special schools. There must 
be enlargement here, reduction there, all the way along 
the common-school curriculum, until we secure the 
popular education which the times demand for all, but 
especially for those who labor with their hands. 

Consider what a large proportion of the pupils quit 
the public schools, never to enter them again, after they 
are thirteen years old. How essential, therefore, that 
some of the elements of a technical education should 



coNCLtrsioK. 253 

be taught in the primary schools ! that pupils, before 
they are ten years old, should make a rational com- 
mencement with certain of the natural sciences and 
with drawing ! It is always found, in attempting to 
acquire a knowledge of any new subject, that the most 
difficult part is to make a satisfactory beginning. Such 
beginning once made, farther progress becomes easy 
and rapid. That is one of the reasons why an adult 
of the average ability and spirit, but without any early 
technical education, so seldom attempts to make him- 
self, by study, master of his business. If he is a farmer, 
for example, he cannot read the best books treating of 
agriculture, because he does not understand the chemi- 
cal and botanical terms with which he meets, and with- 
out whose aid the books could not have been written. 
Eor the same reason, many of the best articles in his 
agricultural journal are for him a stumbling-block, 
and without profit. What is true ot the farmer is 
equally true of the carpenter, machinist, &c., if they 
have received no early technical instruction. It may 
be said they ought to set themselves studying the 
elements of those arts and sciences which bear upon 
their occupations, until they know enough to be able, at 
least, to read such books as would be of special service 
to them. But the great majority of them do not, and 
never will, if left entirely to themselves. Now and then, 
23 



254 TECHNICAL EDUCATlOiT. 

even in ttis country, we meet wltli men of considerable 
business capacity, men who have accumulated money, 
and yet cannot write their names. Rather than give 
the little time and labor which would be sufficient for 
learning to write their names, these men subject them- 
selves to the continuous shame of making their mark. 
Though each needs to learn only the letters composing 
his own name, yet he goes on making a cross for his 
signature to the day of his death. This, indeed, is an 
extreme illustration of the inertia of the adult mind 
when the learning of something new is involved. But, 
for the writing of one's name, substitute the elements 
of any science or of drawing; then you have, for the 
average adult mind which has not been previously 
introduced to these mysteries, what will appear an over- 
whelming task. It may, indeed, be safely asserted? 
that, if all technical instruction is put off until the 
learner has become a workman, the instruction can 
never in any way, even with multiplied special schools, 
be made adequate to the requirements of the age. If, 
however, a proper beginning has been made in the 
common school, then there will be little difficulty with 
subsequent instruction. 

But even if we could be assured that every child in 
the public schools would remain there until seventeen 
years old; and would afterwards attend suitable special 



CONCLTTSIOK. 255 

scliools, still it would be best to begin teaching tbe 
elements of natural science and art in the primary 
schools. Nearly every department of knowledge has 
features which are adapted to the minds of children, 
and which Can often be better learned in childhood than 
at any later period. Notably this is true of drawing 
and of natural science. Both appeal to the perceptive 
faculties, and train the sight. Drawing deals with 
visible lines aud forms : natural science deals with 
facts, phenomena, instead of words and abstract state- 
ments. Drawing cultivates the taste, confers manual 
dexterity, develops the inventive powers. The train- 
ing which gives these things should begin early. Bet- 
ter than any other study adapted to childhood, natural 
science teaches to compare, to generalize, to tabulate, — 
things which pupils should begin to do at an early age, 
always providing that they are confined to things which 
they clearly comprehend. 

Cramming. — Then you would devote the primary 
schools and public schools generally, it will be said, to 
the work of cramming pupils with a great and confused 
variety of facts, when they should quit the schools 
with a compact mass of knowledge, well arranged and 
well digested. Instead of giving them mental discipline, 
strong tendencies of mind to act in the right direction^ 



256 TECHNICAL EDCCATIOX. 

you would leave them ^\-ith good, strong habits of mind 
all unformed, the result of the vague impressions and 
fleeting influences to which they had been subjected by 
a too varied course of study. Certainly not. We 
would strive, and we believe successfully, for the just 
mean of knowledge and discipline, of formation and 
information; keeping two ends always in view, — the 
one educational, the other directly practical 

What is cramming ? The mind must be supplied 
with a certain amount of facts, impressions, data, as 
the body must be supplied with a certain amount of 
food, before there can be digestion, assimilation, and 
growth. So long as the supply does not exceed the 
amount which can be well digested and assimilated, 
there is no cramming; and the young, growing mind, 
like the young, growing body, needs a large supply of 
food to keep it in healthy, prosperous condition. Just 
how much, it is, of course, impossible to tell. It is not 
necessary that the body be nourished with the same 
limited variety of food month after month, and year 
after year. Indeed, an occasional change is known to 
be decidedly advantageous. By the change, the relish 
with which the food is eaten is frequently increased, 
and, in consequence, the capacity for digestion and 
assimilation. Though there may be more eaten, as the 
result of the change, there is not, necessarily, any more 



CONCLUSION. 257 

cramming, — gluttony; because all that is eaten may be 
well used. A glutton may be gluttonous with a single 
clisli. Change and variety of food do not, therefore, 
necessarily imply cramming for the body, but, rather, 
health and growth. ISTor does variety in study neces- 
sarily imply cramming for the mind, but, rather, in- 
crease of knowledge and strength. 

There may be just as much cramming with a few as 
with many studies. How often pupils in the public 
schools are compelled to learn the spelling of fifteen or 
twenty thousand words, and that, too, without heeding 
the laws of orthography, when there is no assurance 
that one pupil out of fifty will have occasion, in all his 
after-life, to write above three or four thousand different 
words, and those the most common ! What is that but 
cramming ? How often the pupils in the public schools 
are compelled to memorize, and that, too, with little ref- 
erence to generalization, twenty to forty thousand facts 
in geography, when it is well known that not more than 
one-tenth part of these facts will be permanently re- 
membered, or would be of any use if they were remem- 
bered ! What is that but cramming ? And what is 
that (which is sometimes done) but cramming, when 
children are made to memorize the solutions of numer- 
ous problems, and to learn a variety of arithmetical 
processes, yet are never required to compare one prob- 

22* 



238 TECH>aCAL EDUCATION. 

lem with another, nor one process with another, and 
never get a general view of arithmetical principles and 
their applications ? And what is that but cramming, 
when children memorize whole grammars, and repeat 
them verbatim, while their discriminating powers are 
not equal to the comprehension of one-quarter of what 
they repeat ? Yet if tlie pupils in the public schools are 
kept to spelling, arithmetic, geography, grammar, — the 
old recognized studies, — it is supposed by many that 
the evils of cramming will be avoided ; while the truth 
of the matter is, that cramming in its worst form is 
usually found in those schools where the fewest studies 
are pursued, and where huge text-books receive their 
heartiest welcome. A large percentage of pupils now- 
waste time enough in cramming with the spelling-book, 
to give them, if their energies were rightly directed, a 
rational, substantial start in botany. The common 
words which they will have occasion to spell after they 
leave school, they would spell as well as now ; while their 
knowledge of botany, and the discipline derived from 
its study, would be so much clear gain. 

VAP.rETY AXD Alterxatiox OF Studti:?. — With 
an increase in the number of studies, it by no 
means follows that they must all be pursued at once, 
but rather that they should be taken at intervals, with 



CONCLTTSION. 259 

due alternation, as in tlie case of food. It is especially 
necessary in schools for the smaller children, that quite 
a variety of things should be taken in hand each day ; 
since it is often impossible to keep the pupils, for any 
great length of time, interested in one thing, however 
well they may like it on the whole. When their interest 
is gone, there is no improvement; but, rather, disgust for 
school, for instruction, springs up. John Locke spoke 
very truly when he said a boy would soon tire of the 
sport, if he were required to spin his top a stated num- 
ber of hours at the same time each day. And so it is 
with little children and their studies, however agreeable 
the studies may be in themselves. There must be a 
sufficient variety to give the children a healthy, unflag- 
ging interest in their work. Because there is not now 
such variety in many schools, the larger part of the 
time of the children is worse than wasted. The older 
the pupils are, and the better trained in applying them- 
selves to study, the fewer the things which will suffice 
to give the requisite variety. If all the studies it is 
thought essential that pupils of a given age should be 
instructed in are not required for this purpose, then let 
the studies be taken at intervals ; thus diminishing the 
number of lessons learned daily by the pupil, and the 
number of class-exercises conducted by the teacher. 
The studies should not, however, alternate from day 



260 TEcmncAL education. 

to day, nor from week to week, but, rather, from month 
to month, or from term to term. It is, for several rea- 
sons, impossible to secure adequate results in any study, 
with a short lesson every third or every second day. 
Put the instruction which would thus be devoted to 
any study in three months all into one month, and 
very much more would be accomplished. Let tlie work, 
then, when any thing is done, be continuous and 
earnest. 

There is no reason why arithmetic even, when once 
taken up, should be pursued without interruption until 
it is dropped finally. No harm, but, on the whole, good, 
rather, would come from dropping it; also geography 
and grammar an occasional term. The pupils would 
take up the work with renewed relish and vigor ; what 
had been partially forgotten would soon be recovered ; 
and then their advance over new ground would be more 
rapid than if there had been no period of rest. Expe- 
rience justifies this declaration. If deemed advisable, 
however, that any general division of study should be 
pursued without any interruption, then, in the mathe- 
matics, for example, geometry might take the place of 
arithmetic, even with the youngest pupils. Natural 
science and drawing have, also, their different depart- 
ments, which could be pursued with proper periods of 
alternation. 



CONCLUSION. 261 

EooM FOR Additional Studies. — Thus, if we re- 
duce each study to its legitimate hounds, as determined 
by the two fundamental considerations, — the one educa- 
tional, the other directly practical, — we can readily obtain 
place for additional studies in the public schools, and at 
the same time avoid the evils of cramming. While we 
give a pleasing variety to the studies in primary schools, 
utilizing all the time of the children with advantage to 
both their mental and physical health, we can at the 
same time, by giving to different studies intervals of 
rest, confine within a rational limit the number of les- 
sons learned daily by the older pupils, and the number 
of class-exercises conducted daily by the teacher. Hav- 
ing done thus much, if we can then, without sacrificing 
any part of the economy of class instruction, so modify 
the present cast-iron system of graded public schools as 
to give the pupils in them an equal freedom with pupils 
in ungraded schools, enabling a large percentage of the 
pupils to accomplish in three years (and they are abun- 
dantly able to do it) what they are now compelled to 
spend five years upon, there will be yet more time 
gained for additional studies. This same change should 
also relieve the teachers of a part of their present re- 
sponsibility for the advancement of their pupils, and put 
it where it belongs, — upon the pupils themselves, and 
upon their parents. The teacher would then become, 



262 TECKSICAL EDUCATION. 

what he should be, an assistant in the education of the 
pupil, or director at most. The self-reliance of tlie pupil 
and his love for his teacher, — who would be regarded 
as his friend, and not as his master, — would be greatly 
augmented. But if we cannot have these modifications 
in public-school instruction, then the new studies de- 
manded by the times must go into the schools as they 
are, and each study take its chances. When parents 
and pupils see in schools certain new studies which have 
a direct bearing upon daily labor, the pupils will attend 
school a year or two longer for the sake of obtaining 
instruction that will tend directly to increase the returns 
for their toil. Fpr the jjurpose of learning a little more 
geography, a little more arithmetic, a little more gram- 
mar, most pupils do not care to attend school, and most 
parents, we know, do not send them ; but when there 
is seen in the schools something which will help them 
directly to become better farmers, better carpenters, bet- 
ter machinists, better artisans of every kind, the whole 
situation will be reversed, and a large part of the pupils 
who now leave school at such an early age will be found 
attending school a year or two longer if possible. 

Mental Disciplixe. — What is discipline? To 
increase the number of studies will diuiinish, it may be 
said, the discipline which the mind sliould always derive 



CONCLUSION. 263 

from pursuing a course of study. Already it has been 
shown, that to enlarge the course of study will not, neces- 
sarily, enlarge the amount of cramming, — one of the 
worst features of bad instruction. But what of the vari- 
ety ? Though there should be no more cramming, will not 
the variety tend to give only vague, fleeting impressions, 
instead of strong tendencies in the right direction, 
instead of enduring habits of mind ? Let us see. 
While each study has its peculiar characteristics both in 
matter and method, which excsrt a peculiar influence 
upon the mind of the learner, yet all studies have much 
in common : and the learner who has gained a knowledge 
of one finds it easier to gain a knowledge of all the 
others. The memory needs to be cultivated; but it 
should be cultivated in different directions. Pupils 
should not be kept constantly exercising their memory 
with one subject, — with the facts of geography alone, of 
arithmetic, of grammar, of science, of history. It is 
far better that it be exercised with various things, the 
pupil always shunning the fatal mistake of memorizing 
words according to the order of their sounds, and not of 
their meaning. Pupils should also learn to compare and 
discriminate ; and this they can learn not only from the 
problems and processes of arithmetic, not only from 
the grammatical usage of words, not only from the 
phenomena of science and the forms of art, but best 



264 TECHXICAL EDUCATION. 

from them all combined. Pupils should learn to gen-= 
eralize and to tabulate; but no one study has a monopoly 
of these things. Pupils should learn application and 
self-reliance ; but no study is without its obstacles and 
its demands for persistent effort. Hence it follows, tliat 
a change from one study to another does not break the 
continuity of the discipline : it only modifies the dis- 
cipline, and, on the whole, for the better. Then there is 
a certain power and aptitude which comes from breadth 
of study, that can never be obtained from a narrow cur- 
riculum, and which enables one to do even special work 
better than the mere specialist. For this, among other 
reasons, no harm results when a study is occasionally 
discontinued for a brief interval, that another may be 
taken in its stead. 

Thorough IxsTRucTio:sr and Exhaustive Ix- 
STRUCTioisr. — Great emphasis is justly laid upon thor- 
ough instruction ; but the mistake is often made of put- 
ting exhaustive for tliovough. One may know little of a 
given department of knowledge, yet know that little just 
as thoroughly as if he were acquainted with every thing 
that pertains to the department. One may have a clear 
comprehension of the great principles, laws, of any 
science, yet be totally ignorant of nine hundred and 
ninety-nine facts in every thousand known to be em- 



CONCLUSION. 265 

braced by those principles or those laws. Now, it hap- 
pens that too frequently text-books are made, and too fre- 
quently teachers attempt to teach, on the exhaustive 
plan. Cramming is the inevitable result, instead of 
rational instruction. Every text-book designed for public 
schools should be made, first, with reference to the best 
educational ; second, with reference to the greatest practi- 
cal, results derivable, not from one study, but from the 
whole course. Agreeably to these requirements, the 
books should be made large or small, more or less ex- 
haustive, but always rational, always according to sound 
principles of instruction. And teachers of the public 
schools should always labor with the same objects in 
view, not unduly fostering one study, and neglecting 
another, because they chance to like the former, while 
they dislike the latter. 

Text-Books i:n" ISTatueal Science. — The text- 
books of natural science which are designed for use in 
the public schools should attempt no more than a clear 
outline of each department, acquainting the pupils with 
only its leading and most characteristic facts, with its 
nomenclature, its general principles, and best methods of 
investigation. To do this, the books must be rationally 
constructed, having in view both an educational and a 
practical result. The different departments, — as botany, 

23 



266 TECHXICAI, EDUCATION. 

zoology, chemistry, mineralogy. — when they do not 
follow, can alternate with one another ; that being taken 
which is best adapted to the season of the 3'ear. 

COUKSE OF DeAWIXG FOR COMMOX ScHOOLS. 

Since the testimony of the preceding pages is con- 
clusive, that drawing should form the main feature in 
technical education designed for the great mass of the 
people, it will be well to add a few final words to what 
has already been said. The scope of the instruction, 
and, consequently, of the text-books, must be determined 
by the real needs of the people, and much or little be 
done accordingly. The needs, it is evident, are great ; 
while the services which can be rendered by drawing are 
great also. Upon that we must proceed. The methods 
of instruction which are followed must aim to give both 
the best educational and the best practical results : they 
must be methods which have been justified by experience, 
or certainly methods which have not been condemned. 
Of course, original methods, unless they are absurd on 
their face, are never to be cavalierly dismissed. 

A full and suitable course of drawing for public 
schools must include several clearly-defined depart- 
ments. The whole must be systematically arranged, 
with reference, first, to logical order of principles ; sec- 
ond, to difficulties of manual execution; tliird, to ca- 



CONCLUSION. 267 

pacity of pupils at different ages; fourth, to sound 
principles of teaching. In a word, drawing is not a 
thiniT of vague uncertainties. It must be treated as 
should any other branch of study, that is, rationally, if 
it is expected to obtain satisfactory results. The two 
general divisions of drawing — free-hand and instru- 
mental — may be divided into several minor depart- 
ments, each having its peculiar characteristics. First, 
there should be free-hand drawing from copies in flat 
outline, dealing almost wholly with pure form. This 
w^ork the youngest pupils should begin with slates, to 
be followed by similar but more elaborate drawings on 
paper. The practice in flat outline, while training the 
eye to distinguish beautiful forms, and the hand to 
draw them, should also teach, first, common geometri- 
cal figures; second, principles of practical design as ap- 
plied to flat surfaces in woven fabrics and mural 
decoration, and to the contours of glass-ware, table- 
ware, and all kinds of pottery ; third, some of the 
features which distinguish the art of different nations, 
as Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Gothic. 

After a degree of skill in free-hand work has been ac- 
quired by the pupils, then should come mechanical drawl- 
ing with instruments. This should concern itself 
mainly with those problems in plane geometry which 
are most extensively employed both in the construction 



268 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

of flat designs, and bj carpenters, masons, machinists, 
and artisans generally. This instrumental drawing, 
since one of its educational objects is to teach the sever- 
est precision, should alternate, from day to day, with 
free-hand practice iu flat-outline, which aims, among 
other things, to teach freedom of movement, and celeri- 
ty of execution. This alternation has been found to 
help each kind of drawing : it tends to give accuracy 
in free-hand practice, and quickness in the manipulation 
of instruments. 

Thus far, little or no thought has been given to the 
three dimensions, — to length, to breadth, and to height. 
Next in order, therefore, should come model and object 
drawing, which involves the three dimensions, and has 
for one of its educational aims the development of the 
imagination, that the pupil may be able to form a dis- 
tinct mental picture of any object. This every one, 
but especially the artisan, has almost constant occasion 
to do. In this department, the leading subjects of 
study should be geometrical solids, manufactured objects 
specially illustrating geometrical forms, ornaments in 
relief, and natural objects having marked geometrical 
features, and illustrating principles of practical design. 
The models and objects, also the flat copies which 
should accompany them, should be beautiful as possible 
in form, that the taste may continue to be cultivated. 



COKCLTJSION. 269 

As but little can be done in this department without a 
knowledge of the principles of perspective, and as these 
principles cannot well be learned without drawing 
objects of three dimensions, it is quite proper that per- 
spective drawing with instruments should alternate, from 
day to day or week to week, "with free-liand drawing of 
models and objects. This work should begin in the 
grammar school, and conclude in the high school. 

It is proper that the mechanical drawing of the figures 
of plane geometry should precede model and object 
drawing, and perspective. Eor how can one put a hexa- 
gon, for example, into perspective, unless he can first 
draw it geometrically ? As perspective drawing, also 
model and object drawing, in the public schools, must 
be largely of the most practical nature possible, many 
of the objects drawn will necessarily have plane geo- 
metrical sides, contours. Unless, therefore, these ob- 
jects can be drawn geometrically, that is, as they 
actually are, with their true proportions, it is impossible 
to draw them in perspective, that is, as they appear, 
with all their proportions modified by the laws of 
optics. 

Before coming to object and model drawing, and to 
perspective, very little or nothing should be done with 
light and shade, and not very much then, though some- 
thing. Form should predominate. There remains one 

23 



270 TECHNICAL ZDUCATIOX. 

other, a fifth, general department of drawing which can 
imperativelj claim a place in the public schools ; and 
that is mechanical projection. This should be so far 
taught as to give the principles which are common to 
all kinds of construction, — architectaxe, machinerr, 
bridge-building, and the like. The object should not be 
to make draughtsmen, — a work properly belonging to 
special sch(X)ls, — but to enable the pupils readilj to 
read working-drawings. Whether this department of 
instrumental drawing be taken before perspective 
among the less aiivaneed pupils, or after perspective 
among the more advanced pupils, it should be, in the 
main or whollv, an elective studv, to be pursued bj 
those who will probablj engage in some kind of build- 
ing construction. 

This is a general outline of what must constitute a 
practical and artistic course of drawing for the pub- 
lic schools. It is certainly the least that should be 
taken. While the general features must be sneh as 
have been describe<i, there may, of course, be minor 
nodijications to meet the requirements of local cirenm- 
stances. For the more advanced papils, especially for 
those showing a marked aptitude for art, there should 
be added, in the high school, more drawing 6om na- 
ture and firom the cast, with greater attention given to 
light and shade. 



CONCLUSION. 271 

For each department of drawing, even for model and 
object, there should be text-books. They should be 
few or many, large or small, according to the require- 
ments of the work to be done. They should contain 
drawings to be executed, directions for executing them, 
and full, clear explanation of the principles involved, 
that the pupils may become much more than mere copy- 
ists. Such a text, lessening the labor of the teacher, 
and generally diffusing the principles of art, has a value 
hardly second to that of the drawing-copies themselves, 
though the latter are, what they always should be, 
beautiful in design, and perfectly accurate in drawing. 
With such books in the hands of the pupils, it is far from 
a necessity that the teacher should be an expert in 
manual execution. Indeed, the regular teachers of the 
public schools, possessing the great advantage of a gen- 
eral knowledge of teaching, can always do excellent 
work, aided by such books as have been described. 
They will usually excel the mere draughtsman in the 
schoolroom. But if the teachers of the public schools 
were all expert at drawing, even then the pupils should 
be supplied with such text-books as have been described, 
and not be left to receive their instruction wholly from 
the teachers, who would thus find their labors greatly in- 
creased, while the advancement made by the pupils 
would be much less rapid. It should be one of the 



272 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

chief aims of the public school to teacli the pupils how 
to use a book properly. Only a small part of them now 
learn this lesson, upon which depends so much of their 
progress in knowledge after leaving school. They learn 
to memorize the words of the text-books ; but the real 
meaning of the words, that, too frequently, they fail to 
learn. IsTow, aside from diminishing the labor of the 
teacher, and accelerating the advancement of the pupil, 
the execution of a drawing, especially an instrumental 
drawing, from a printed text, is one of the best possible 
exercises for teaching a papil the exact force of words. 
If he follows minutely the directions of the text, he 
obtains a correct result : if he mistakes the meaning of 
the words, his drawing is wrong, and he needs no one 
to tell him it is wrong. He has only to begin again, 
studying his text with greater care. It is not a matter 
of memorizing words, as it might be in almost any 
other study; but he must ascertain just what the words 
mean, and then do just what that meaning requires. 
This is a decidedly iuiportant educational feature. 

A large part of the drawing copies and models, espe- 
cially in the early stages of instruction, should possess 
definite general proportions, and strongly-marked geo- 
metrical features, which can be indicated by construc- 
tion-lines or geometrical tracings. To make use of these 
helping lines is to follow the practice of the best masters 



COKCLUSION. 273 

of different ages. By tlieir aid tlie pupil does his work 
uiiderstandingly : he is enabled to make his drawings 
larger or smaller than the copies, — an essential matter. 
It is the true way to approach the study of Nature ; for 
Nature, in her general features, usually builds upon regu- 
lar geometrical forms, however much she may deviate from 
them in details. Unless the pupil can first draw that 
which is regular, symmetrical, of definite proportions, 
and which can therefore always be verified, how is it 
possible for him to draw an object, whether of nature 
or art, which is irregular, unsyrametrical (if only in 
details), which has no definite proportions, and so does 
not permit the drawing to be verified by measurement ? 

The blackboard should be frequently used by the 
teacher for the purpose of class-instruction in principles 
and in the execution of drawings. Time is thus saved. 
It should also be quite frequently used for the purpose 
of supplying the pupils with copies to draw to a much 
smaller scale on paper. They thus learn reduction. 
The pupils themselves should often draw on the bUxck- 
board, enlarging the copies in their books. Thus they 
learn enlargement, while they acquire great freedom 
and boldness of movement. 

Pupils should frequently make drawings, the features 
being orally dictated by the teacher, instead of always 
drawing from copies, models, objects. This will test their 



274 TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

knowledge of what they have been over; will show them 
that words and lines, forms, are convertible, while it 
will develop the imagination : since it will be impossible 
for them to draw a single line correctly, unless a mental 
picture of it has first been made. If we consider the 
practical view alone, it is exceedingly important that 
the imagination should thus be trained ; for every one 
must at times work under oral orders. Pupils should 
also be exercised in the reproduction from memory of 
drawings previously executed ; especially should they 
be thus exercised in drawing noted historic forms, until 
the distinguishing peculiarities of these forms are indeli- 
bly'' traced upon the memory. In this way, not only 
will the memory be strengthened, but the pupils will 
acquire the power of distinguishing the features which 
characterize the art of different nations and of different 
ages. But especially should pupils be exercised in that 
most delightful and most profitable kind of drawing, — 
original design. Having learned some of the principles 
which should both direct and restrain the invention, and 
having become acquainted with some of the historic 
materials to be used, also with the method of procuring 
new materials from the exhaustless sources of Nature, 
there can be no end to the delight, to the intellectual 
stimulus, to be obtained from the practice of original 
design. 



CONCLUSION. 275 

Special Instruction. — A broad, rational founda- 
tion for art and science to build upon having first been 
laid in the common schools, special schools of all grades, 
for students and for workmen, and museums, should be at 
once established throughout the country. What should 
be the general character of these special schools and 
museums has been clearly outlined in the preceding 
pages. It is not proposed, here and at this time, to 
give details, but simply to urge that such schools and 
museums be established at the earliest day, upon the 
broadest, most liberal foundation, and at all those cen- 
tral points where their influence upon the local indus- 
tries will be the most direct, the soonest felt and 
recognized. While the technical instruction given in 
the common schools will tend to swell largely the num- 
bers found in the higher special schools, the influence 
of the latter will also tend greatly to elevate the techni- 
cal instruction of the former, just as the higher classical 
instruction of the academies and colleges has, in the 
past, tended greatly to elevate the literary instruction 
of the common schools. 



INDEX. 



Adult mind not disposed to learn 
new things, 254. 

Agriculture, labor-saving imple- 
ments employed in, 27. 

American artisans ignorant of 
drawing, 184. 

Apprentice schools in Belgium, 
136. 

Apprentices, large number of, 
employed at Fives (France), 
75 ; have better opportunities 
in small shops than in large 
ones, 78; special schools for 
instruction of, 132 ; should 
study together with workm-en, 
145. 

Apprenticeship, decay of, 9. 

Art, French, remarkable vitality 
of, 219. 

Art-masters, training of, 197. 

Art-metal work, report on, 215. 

Art Museum at South Kensing- 
ton, 198. 

Artisan, the, should receive an 
artistic training, 21. 
24 



Artisans, increasing number of, 
28 ; French, large number sent 
abroad, 76. 

Austria, Report of the French 
Imperial Commission on draw- 
ing in, 202, 243. 

B. 

Baker, R., English wood-carver, 
on the superiority of French 
work, 100. 

Bardin, M., professor in com- 
munal schools in Paris, re- 
port of, 152, 189. 

Batley Chamber of Commerce, 
report of, 41, 47. 

Baudine, Father, of Christian 
Brothers' School, 152, 187. 

Bavaria, report on industrial 
education in, 120; drawing 
in, 243. 

Behrens, Jacob, letter of, to Lord 
Montagu, 155. 

Belfast Chamber of Commerce, 
report of, 36, 49. 

Belgian testimony, 224. 
27r 



278 



INDEX. 



Belijium, industrial and techni- 
cal schools in, 88 ; apprentice 
schools in, 136. 

Bernat, director of School of In- 
dustrial Arts at Lille, testi- 
naony of, 127. 

Besan^on, niunicipal school of, 
watch-manufacture at, 133. 

Bcunoch, Francis, on the decline 
of silk-manufacture in Eng- 
land, 64. 

Booth, L. S., of Coventry, re- 
port of, on ribbons, 102, 

Birmingham Chamber of Com- 
merce, report of, 36, 38, 43 ; 
resolutions of, 47 ; hardware 
district, list of articles made 
in, replaced by productions of 
other countries, 51. 

Bradford, worsted-trade of, 55. 

Brass-founding, report on, 218. 

British Chambers of Commerce, 
opinions of, 35. 

C. 

Capital and labor, relative pro- 
portions of profits of, 107. 

Central Imperial School of Arts 
and Manufactures, 130. 

Central School at La Martiniere, 
mode of teaching drawing at, 
191. 

Chambers of Commerce, British, 
opinions of, 35. 

Chemistry, knowledge of, neces- 
sary to producers, 33 ; to 
dyers, 40. 



Chemnitz, apprentices and arti- 
sans of, obtain a technical ed- 
ucation gratis, 40. 

Children's toys, variety of, made 
at Nuremberg, 80. 

Christian Brothers' School, 152. 

City of London College, 160. 

Cluny, Normal School of, 240. 

Communal schools of Paris, 
152. 

Competition world wide, 2 ; 
home and foreign, 25. 

Connolly, Thomas, English 
stone-mason, on Paris Ex- 
hibition, 98. 

Co-operation of masters and 
workmen, J. Scott Russell on, 
105. 

Coventry Chamber of Com- 
merce, resolution of, 49 ; de- 
cline of silk-trade in, 73. 

Cramming, 255. 

Creuzot, France, immense iron- 
works at, 92. 

D. 

De Walden, Lord Howard, on 
the effect of industrial schools 
in Belgium, 88. 

Decline of silk-manufacture in 
England, 64. 

Denmark, drawing in, 243. 

Dcwsbury Chamber of Com- 
merce, report of, 39, 43, 49. 

Doria, Mr., on technical schools 
in Sweden, 87. 



INDEX. 



279 



Draufrlitsraan, value of an ex- 
pert, 34. 

Drawing- a part of popular edu- 
cation, 18; relations of, to 
art, 177 ; general character of 
its instruction, 178 ; different 
modes of execution of, 179; 
English and Erench methods 
of, 179 ; from flat copies, 180 ; 
from vegetable forms, 182 ; 
from geometric objects and 
casts, 183; with instruments, 
183; ignorance of American 
artisans in i-elation to, 184: 
as taught at La Martiniere 
school, 191 ; the principal 
means in technical instruction, 
195; training of art-masters, 
197 ; in Austria, 202 ; in 
Nuremberg, 203 ; in Wurtem- 
berg, 205, 244 ; a knowledge 
of, essential to wood-carving, 
215; Belgian testimony in 
relation to, 224 ; geometry the 
true basis of all elementary, 
227 ; first degrees of teaching, 
228; Taeye, M. De on ele- 
mentary, 230 ; Erench report 
on, 231 ; in the municipal 
schools of Paris, 235 ; at Clu- 
ny, 240 ; in England, 242 ; in 
Austria, 243 ; in Denmark, 
243 ; in Bavaria, 243 ; in 
Royal Industrial School at 
Nuremberg, 245 ; course of, in 
public schools, 266 ; special 
instruction in, 275. 



Drawing-copies, great value of 

good, 234. 
Dyers, superiority of Erench, 

39, 41,58. 



Ecole Centrale des Arts et Man- 
ufactures, 123. 

Educated labor the cheapest as 
well as the best, 252. 

Education should confoi'm to 
the necessities of a people, 1 ; 
popular, 13 ; how should it be 
modified, 14 ; drawing a part 
of, 18 ; of artisans at Creuzot, 
Erance, 94 ; equality in, leads 
to equality in distribution of 
wealth, 106. 

England, drawing in, 242. 

English artisans at Paris Exhi- 
bition, testimony of, 97. 

English government taking up 
the general organization of 
art-education, 196. 

Evening schools for workmen, 
144, 152, 157. 

F. 

Earmers require education, 5. 

Eashion, influence of, on the 
ribbon-trade, 72. 

Foreign competition, remedy of 
evils from, 44. 

Form, and not shade, the im- 
portant thing for beginners in 
drawing, 241. 



280 



INDEX. 



Freeman, Mr., of Falmouth, on 

the granite-trade, 42. 
French art, remarkable vitality 

of, 19. 
French Imperial Commission, 

187. 
French report on drawing at 

the Universal Exposition, 231. 
French students of industrial 

art, facilities of, 219. 
French testimony on technical 

education, 73. 
French workman imbued with a 

true love of his art, 100. 
Furniture, value of drawing in 

the manufacture of, 190. 



Gaumont and Guemied, exam- 
ination of, by French Com- 
mission in regard to manual 
labor as a means of instruc- 
tion, 125, 153. 

Geometry, descriptive, the basis 
of mechanical drawing, 210; 
the true basis of all elemen- 
tary drawing, 227. 

German clerks, superior educa- 
tional advantages of, 62. 

Girardon, M., testimony of, to 
the successful careers of pupils 
from technical schools, 74. 

Glass-making, need for art-teach- 
ing in, 99. 

Gorman, Willinm, report of, on 
brass-founding, 218. 



Granite-trade, technical educa- 
tion advantageous to, 42. 

H. 

Hamburg Society for Promotion 
of Art and Industry, 161. 

Hawich Chamber of Commerce, 
recommendation of, 48. 

Hole, James, secretary of York- 
shire Mechanics' Institute, let- 
ter of, to Lord Montagu, 174, 
221. 

Hooper Charles A., on the ad- 
vantages of museums, 166. 

Houel, M., on the employment 
of apprentices, 75. 

Human figure, mistaken study 
of, 226. 

I. 

India, superiority of textile 
fabrics of, 223. 

Industrial drawing in Nurem- 
berg, 203. 

Instruction of workmen, 143. 

Isthmus of Suez Canal, a result 
of superior French mechanical 
engineering, 91. 



Jackson, Frank J., designer and 
art-teacher, report of, 218. 

Jacobs, Thos., cabinet draughts- 
man, on superiority of French 
designs, 101, 170. 



INDEX. 



281 



K. 

Kendal Chamber of Commerce, 

report of, 43, 44. 
King's College, London, evening 

classes at, 159. 
Kirchof, Francis, glass-painter, 

on comparison of English and 

French glass, 213. 



Labor, influence of steam npon, 
4; effect of subdivision of, 
8, 12 ; rude, dexterous, skilled, 
11; skilled, and not pauper, 
that America has to fear from 
Europe, 30; rude, may be 
supplanted by machinery, 91 ; 
American, should be thor- 
oughly educated, 251. 

Labor-saving implements, effects 
of, 27. 

Laborer, rude, no hope of pro- 
motion for, 12. 

Lace-manufacture, influence of 
art-instruction on, 90. 

La Martiniere technical school, 
success of pupils of, 74. 

Land, deterioration of, 5. 

Leather-trade, 39. 

Lectures, popular, 149. 

Leeds, shawl-trade of, 41. 

Lequien, M., on the value of 
drawing in the manufacture 
of furniture, 190. 

Letheren, William, art - metal 
workman, report of, 215. 
24* 



Leoni, Levi, Prof., report of, 
printed by English House of 
Commons, 81, 157, 173. 

Literary and scientific ti-aining, 
evidence of M. Monjean on, 
116. 

Lowther, Mr., on effect of tech- 
nical instruction in Prussia, 
86. 

Lucraft, Benjamin, on the supe- 
rior advantages enjoyed by 
French furniture-makers, 99, 
168. 

M. 

Macclesfield Chamber of Com- 
merce, recommendation of, 48. 

Machinery, effect of, upon arti- 
sans, 10 ; increases the relative 
demand of skilled labor, 33. 

Mackie, James, on need of intel- 
ligence in wood-carving, 100, 
169. 

Malet, M., of Imperial Artillery 
School, on apprentice work- 
shops, 129, 193. 

Manual labor, evidence of M. 
Marguerin on, 1 24 ; as a 
means of insrtuction, 126. 

Manufactures no longer few and 
rude, 6 ; of most value, 26. 

Marguerin, M., on manual labor, 
124. 

Mechanical engineers, resources 
of French, 91 ; scarcity of, 
194. 



282 



IKDEX. 



Mechanics' institutes, founda- 
tion of, 157. 

Mental discipline, 262. 

Money value of skilled labor, 
compared with unskilled, 
109. 

Monjean, M., observations of, 
on practical schools in Ger- 
many, 1 16. 

Montagu, Lord Robert, letter 
from Chamber of Commerce 
to, 35 ; letter from Jacob 
Behrens to, 55. 

Mulhouse, power-loom-weaving- 
school at, 138. 

Municipal school of watch-man- 
ufacture at Besan9on, 133. 

Municipal schools of Paris, 
drawing in the, 235. 

Museums serviceable for tech- 
nical education of workmen, 
148. 

N. 

Napoleon First, value placed 
upon technical education by, 
80. 

Natural science a part of pop- 
ular education, 16. 

Newcastle Chamber of Com- 
merce on technical education, 
42. 

New studies, time for, 21. 

Nottingham Chamber of Com- 
merce, report of, 40, 47. 

Nuremberg, prosperity of, 79 ; 
industrial drawing in, 203 ; 



Koyal Industrial School at, 
245. 

O. 

Object of this compilation, 24. 
Oral and text-book instruction, 
blending of, 147. 

P. 

Paris Exhibition, testimony of 
English artisans at, 97. 

Philosophers before the people 
in foreseeing the times, 108. 

Plampin, James, working-jewel- 
ler, report of, 218. 

Pompec, M., of the Polytechnic 
Society, before the French 
Commission, 117, 125. 

Porcelain-painting at Sevres, 
167. 

Powcr-loom-weaving-school at 
Mulhouse, 138. 

Primary education, universal, 
171. 

Primary schools, industrial edu- 
cation should begin in, 252. 

Prussia, general effect of tech- 
nical instruction in, 86. 

R. 

Randall, John, English china- 
painter, on superiority of 
French ornamentation, 102. 

Raw material, silk, 65. 

Remedy for evils springing from 
want of industrial education, 
44. 



INDEX. 



283 



Ribboni?, report of L. S. Booth 

of Coventry on, 102. 
Eootn for additional studies, 261. 
Rossat, M., on practical and 

theoretical studies, 128. 
RussellJ. Scott (builder of Great 

Eastern) on education of 

working-classes, 103, 171, 175, 

222. 

s. 

Saniuelson, Bernard, M.P., let- 
ter on industrial education 
in France, Switzerland, Ger- 
many, &c., 89. 

Science, natural, a part of pop- 
ular education, 16. 

Science and art department of 
Council of Education in 
England, report of, 112. 

Schulen, Real and Gewerbe, 123. 

Sheffield Chamber of Commerce 
on the steel-trade, 37, 48. 

Silk- manufacture in England, 
decline of, 64. 

Skilled labor the only sure foun- 
dation for prosperous manu- 
factures, 29. 

Smith, Walter, Director of Art 
Education for State of Mas- 
sachusetts, 249. 

South Kensington, art museum 
at, 198. 

South of Scotland Chamber of 
Commerce, report of, 41. 

Special instruction in drawing, 
275, 



Special schools for the instruc- 
tion of apprentices, 131. 

Statfordshire Potteries Chamber, 
report of, 36, 49. 

Stanley, Lord, replies to circular 
of, 83, 208. 

Superintendent of a business, 
necessary qualifications of, 31. 

Sweden, technical schools in, 87. 

Swene, W. T., on the need of 
art-teaching in glass manu- 
facture, 99. 

Swiss carry technical knowledge 
beyond tlie French, 72. 

Switzerland, skill of workmen 
in, 85 ; popular education in, 
175. 

T. 

Taeye, M. De, on elementary 
drawing, 230. 

Taste, progress in, 7. 

Taylor, James, report of, on 
gas-fittings, 217. 

Technical education in Germany 
and Switzerland, 172. 

Technical schools of a high 
class, prominent objects of, 45. 

Text-books in natural science, 
265. 

Thorough instruction and ex- 
haustive instruction, 264. 

Time for the new studies, 21. 

Trades of England, in what par- 
ticular injured by foreign com- 
petition, 37, 42. 

Trades' unions prevent altera- 



284 



INDEX. 



tions in the process of manu- 
facture, 42 ; cause the decline 
of the silk-trade in Coventry, 
73. 

U. 

Universal primary education, 
167. 

V. 

Value, comparison of, between 
trained and untraiaed work- 
men, 109. 

Variety and alternation of 
studies, 258. 

Verviers, manufacturers of, 41. 

w: 

"Wages of workmen at Creuzot, 
France, 95. 

Wakefield Chamber of Com- 
merce, report of, 43, 48. 

Watch-manufacture at Besan- 
con, 133. 



Wea^-ing-school at Mulhouse, 
receipts and expenditures at, 
139. 

Whiting, Richard, special report 
of, on condition and habits of 
French working-classes, 216. 

Wood-carving, French, superior 
to English, 100. 

Workman should know the 
theory and practice of his 
business, 32. 

Workmen should be draughts- 
men, 34 ; generally ignorant 
of the properties of the ma- 
terials they use, 41 ; cannot 
gain much by studying at 
night, 76 ; instruction of, 143 ; 
and apprentices should be 
taught together, 145, 

Worsted-trade of Bradford, 55. 

Wurtemberg, drawing in, 203, 
244. 



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